Report: Maple Leafs Running Into Challenges in Exploring Mitch Marner Trade
Marner has a no-movement clause tied to the final year of his six-year, $65.4 million contract in 2024-25.
It’s no secret that Toronto Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner has been at the center of attention and on league-wide notice this summer. After the Leafs came up short once again in the postseason, losing their opening-round series to the Boston Bruins in seven games, a major ‘shake up’ within the lineup has become priority number one in Toronto.
Of the ‘Core Four,’ Marner is the most feasible option for a trade, considering Auston Matthews and William Nylander both signed extensions in the past year, and John Tavares is a difficult asset to move regarding his $11 million cap hit next season. However, there is one lingering problem: Marner has a no-movement clause tied to the final year of his six-year, $65.4 million contract in 2024-25, posing a serious hurdle.
According to The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel and James Mirtle, the club is already getting a sense of how difficult making a deal with the 27-year-old will be through trade calls made to teams around the league.
“One, in particular, seems to be a lack of teams that a) Marner would conceivably accept a trade to that can b) accommodate his $10.9 million cap hit for next season and c) are willing to send back piece(s) the Leafs would find attractive, which would ideally include an impact defenceman,” Siegel and Mirtle wrote.
At the conclusion of the 2024-25 season, whether in Toronto or not, Marner will become an unrestricted free agent, and as of now, extension talks have not materialized. If traded, the team acquiring his rights will likely want some reassurance of Marner re-upping with the club, especially considering the Toronto native currently has no intention of waiving his no-movement clause to facilitate any deal.
“There’s also the extension that Marner and his agent, Darren Ferris, would have to work out with said team, assuming that Marner even consents to the trade,” said Siegel and Mirtle. “The timeline alone seems to be working against a trade, as does the fact his camp continues to broadcast that they have no intention of waiving a no-movement clause to facilitate a deal.”
From the Leafs’ perspective, they are gauging their options and seem interested in moving Marner if the right deal arises to the surface. However, general manager Brad Treliving already stated he won’t make a trade for the sake of making one, especially if it doesn’t return assets that are of significant value to the current roster.
In the case of Marner, he becomes eligible to sign an extension with the Leafs as early as July 1 and will receive a $7.25 million signing bonus with just $775,000 being owed to the forward before he becomes a free agent in 2025. Marner, who scored 26 goals and added 59 assists for 85 points in 69 games, could become an important piece to a contending puzzle if he is traded. As the Marner saga continues to drag out, it won’t become any easier given the hoops the club needs to jump through while exploring their available options.
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