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The Toronto Maple Leafs look to continue their winning ways against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday. The Leafs have won two straight at home against Pittsburgh and Anaheim and hope to take advantage of their Atlantic Division and provincial rival, who have the NHL’s worst record at 19-28-5 and face the potential exodus of pending free agents Mark Stone, Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel and Cody Ceci before the February 25th trade deadline.
Toronto is not expected to make any lineup changes and Frederik Andersen will make his third straight start before the club departs for a 14-day road trip with games against Montreal, New York, Colorado, Vegas, Arizona and St. Louis.
Leafs GM Kyle Dubas was able to check off a big name on his to-do list with Auston Matthews five-year contract extension on Tuesday, but the focus quickly shifted away from the Leafs center to the next restricted free agent in winger Mitch Marner.
Agent Darren Ferris indicated last month that he would prefer to negotiate a new deal with the Leafs after the completion of the season and when asked about it on Wednesday, Marner said that stance has not changed with the signing of Matthews, but is confident that a deal will get done.…
“I grew up here. This is a place I love being a part of for the past two years and hopefully for many more going forward. There’s really no rush for anyone.… Marner said. “I think the Leafs know that. A deal will get done eventually. It’s nothing to rush. Our goal is to be a Maple Leaf for a long time and win a lot of Cups here. I’m sure that will happen eventually.…
The tug of war between Marner’s representatives and Dubas over the next few months will be tied to the contention that he make close to Matthews $11.634 Million AAV and gets a similarly short term to hit unrestricted free agency in his mid-20’s.
The Leafs will likely pushback that wingers in the league do not make as much as centers. Chicago’s Patrick Kane is the highest paid winger in the league at $10.5 Million, but there could be an escalation in prices this summer with Artemi Panarin and Mark Stone hitting unrestricted free agency and Mikko Rantanen’s entry-level contract expiring.
Toronto also may want to get Marner signed for a different term, so as to stagger the contracts coming due down the line. Matthews and William Nylander’s new contracts run until the end of the 2023-24 season, while John Tavares seven-year, $77 Million contract expires after the 2024-25 campaign.
The two sides could opt for a two-or-three year bridge deal, which gets Marner to arbitration and one-to-two years away from being an RFA or the more likely option would be a seven-or-eight year deal.
A lengthier contract would buy up more unrestricted years and likely vault Marner’s salary over $10 Million per season, which will make managing the salary a greater challenge for the club and put Dubas in the position of making some difficult roster decisions down the line.
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Listen to my take on the signing of Auston Matthews:
New podcast!🎙ï¸Had a few different guests on this time to help provide some differing perspectives on the Auston Matthews contract ($11.63M x 5 years)
— Ian Tulloch📊 (@IanGraph) February 6, 2019
2:13 - @racheldoerrie
40:00 - @MikeInBuffalo
59:00 - @Totally_Offsidehttps://t.co/O5tIa3qshn
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