Report: John Tavares And Steven Lorentz Will Have To Wait Until Off-Season For Contract Offers From Maple Leafs

Tavares and Lorentz, each unrestricted free agents at the end of this season, may have to wait to receive contract offers from Toronto.

John Tavares and Steven Lorentz reportedly won't receive contract offers from the Toronto Maple Leafs until the off-season.

According to the Toronto Star's Nick Kypreos, both players, who grew up in the Greater Toronto Area, will have to wait to ink new deals with the team given the uncertainty around Mitch Marner.

"Sounds like pending unrestricted free agents John Tavares and Steven Lorentz will have to wait until the off-season for new contract offers from the Leafs if they are to stay," Kypreos reported on Thursday. "Toronto’s top priority remains to leave enough space to either pay Mitch Marner or lure one or two players to adequately replace him."

Tavares is having another strong season with the Maple Leafs, scoring 65 points (32 goals and 33 assists) in 64 games. Lorentz, too, has been productive, with six goals and 10 assists in 69 games — three points off his career-high of 19 points.

Both players are living their childhood dream of playing with the Maple Leafs. Tavares has admitted several times this season that he wants to remain in Toronto beyond this year, and if you asked Lorentz, he'd likely say the same.

Lorentz signed a one-year, $775,000 contract with the Maple Leafs after winning the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers last June. Tavares has been with Toronto since July 2018 when he inked a seven-year, $77 million contract. 

The news came 20 days after the NHL trade deadline, when it was reported that Marner was asked to waive his no-move clause in a trade to the Carolina Hurricanes for Mikko Rantanen.

Marner, also in the final year of his contract with the Maple Leafs, reportedly declined to waive his no-move clause, keeping him in Toronto. The 27-year-old is on pace for a career season, already scoring 86 points (22 goals and 64 assists) in 70 games.

At the beginning of this season, Marner said he wouldn't discuss his contract status throughout the year. However, following what happened during the trade deadline, he was asked if he'd be willing to negotiate with the Maple Leafs in-season.

"Like I talked to you guys at the start (of the season), I'm not going to get into this," Marner said. "I'm here to play hockey. Let that happen with my agent and the team. I'm here to play hockey and do my thing."

One day later, Toronto GM Brad Treliving spoke with the media about Marner not waiving his no-move clause, saying the organization supports Marner 1000 percent. 

"We talked about it the other day with regards to contracts and the business side of it, we're not going to get into it, other than we're aligned with Mitch," Treliving said. "We're worried about this season. We're worried about the games we have coming up. We want Mitch here for a long time. But it's not a distraction."

With 11 games remaining in the regular season, plus the playoffs, there's plenty of opportunity for Marner, Tavares, and Lorentz to prove their worth with Toronto. Matthew Knies, an unsigned restricted free agent, can do the same.

How Toronto handles games down the stretch and into the playoffs will be fascinating. But so will the off-season when each of these four players' contracts expire.

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