The story of this NHL offseason is Mitch Marner’s free agency.
But it nearly was a much different setup. The Toronto Maple Leafs reportedly almost traded Marner in a massive three-team bonanza during the season.
The fallen-through trade, reported by The Athletic’s James Mirtle, involved the Maple Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes and Las Vegas Golden Knights.
Marner would’ve gone to Vegas in the deal, and Mikko Rantanen would’ve ended up in Toronto, with Carolina getting other pieces.
“It’s unclear just how far those talks went,” Mirtle wrote, “or if Marner was asked to waive his no-movement clause to go to Vegas, but it sounds like what killed the deal was Vegas and Carolina failing to find the right assets to include to get it done — not anything on the Toronto side. (The Hurricanes ended up landing Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks and two third-round picks from Dallas for Rantanen.)”
It seems like Vegas would’ve lined up a pre-trade contract extension with Marner to know it wasn’t just getting a rental in the deal.
Rantanen went on a historic run through the playoffs before Dallas was knocked out. Imagine if he had been with the Leafs instead. Maybe they’d still be playing.
It didn’t work out that way, though, and now Marner is looking for a gigantic free agent contract. Given his two-way skill set, he’s likely to get huge offers from many teams. He’ll have his pick of the league.
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