Mitchell Marner‘s agent said the Toronto Maple Leafs forward remains committed to holding off on contract negotiations until after the season.
“Yes, 100 percent,” agent Darren Ferris said Tuesday in a text to The Athletic. “Mitch wants to concentrate on this season.”
Marner, taken by the Maple Leafs with the No. 4 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, leads them in points (55) and assists (40) this season. He is tied with Winnipeg Jets forward Blake Wheeler for eighth in the NHL in points and tied with Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon for fifth in assists. The 21-year-old forward is on pace to become the first Toronto player since Doug Gilmour (111) in 1993-94 to have a 100-point season after getting 61 points in 2016-17 and a team-leading 69 in 2017-18.
He can become a restricted free agent July 1 along with Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews and forwards Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson.
Toronto (27-13-2) is second in the Atlantic Division and well-positioned to advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third consecutive season. The Maple Leafs lost in the Eastern Conference First Round in each of the past two seasons and haven’t won a postseason series since 2004.
Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said Dec. 17 that he’s confident he can get Marner and Matthews re-signed by July 1. He aims to avoid a repeat of what happened this season with forward William Nylander, who became a restricted free agent July 1 but did not sign with Toronto until Dec. 1, minutes before the 5 p.m. ET deadline for playing in the NHL this season. Nylander agreed to a six-year contract with an average annual value of $6.9 million.
Not only would getting Marner and Matthews signed prior to July 1 mitigate the possibility of negotiations stretching into next season as they did with Nylander, it would also eliminate the risk of teams extending an offer sheet to Marner and/or Matthews.
Matthews, the No. 1 pick by Toronto in the 2016 NHL Draft, has 39 points (20 goals, 19 assists) in 28 games this season. He has 171 points (94 goals, 77 assists) in 172 regular-season games. Marner has 185 points (56 goals, 129 assists) in 201 games. Each joined the Maple Leafs in 2016-17.
“We continue to have discussions with (Matthews’ agent) Judd Moldaver and Darren Ferris and both of their camps,” Dubas said. “It will be our intention to try to get those [done] as soon as possible.
“It would be our intention well before July 1 that we have an agreement and both players are here long term. One way or another, we’ll get to that point.”
from A Viral Update http://bit.ly/2QzDfRU
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