Mitch Marner and the Maple Leafs: A breakup is for the best

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TORONTO — Players ambled in and out of the dressing room at the Maple Leafs practice facility on Tuesday, packing up sticks and equipment on the unofficial last day of the 2024-25 season.

For Mitch Marner, it might have been for the last time as a Leaf.

Marner didn’t make any declarations about his future two days after the Leafs’ season came to an end once again in Game 7, but he continued to signal what’s been increasingly obvious: his Leafs career very well might be over.

Marner spoke in the past tense about his nine years playing in Toronto, for his hometown team, when asked about his pending free agency.

“I’ve always loved my time here. I’ve loved being here,” he said, just under 10 years after he first became a Maple Leaf at the 2015 draft, which took place at the Florida Panthers’ arena in Sunrise. “I’ve been so grateful.

“I haven’t processed anything yet,” he added. “It’s still so fresh.”

Marner, crucially, did not say that he wanted to stay.

Responding to an inquiry soon afterward, Marner’s agent, Darren Ferris, provided a statement on the state of things:

“With the season concluded, there’s naturally going to be speculation about what’s next. At this time, we’re not in a position to share any updates regarding future plans. These are private matters, and when there’s something definitive to communicate, we’ll do so through the proper channels. Until then, we appreciate your understanding and respect for the process.”

Marner likely could have already become a lifetime Leaf had he wanted.

The Leafs tried to sign him to a contract extension during the season. The organization decided it didn’t need to see what happened in the postseason. The Leafs wanted Marner to be here. Had they signed him to an eight-year deal, it would have been the biggest contract in franchise history.

A deal like that would have seen Marner very likely become the team’s all-time leading scorer and all-time leader in assists, with a banner in the rafters and a place on Legends Row secured.

After nine seasons, Marner already has the fifth-most points of any Leaf and the fourth-most assists.

Mitch Marner during Sunday’s Game 7 loss. (Claus Andersen / Getty Images)

Marner, of course, declined to sign an extension, even in the midst of increased pressure at the trade deadline when the Leafs tried and failed — thanks to the no-movement clause that kicked in on his contract two summers ago — to trade him for Mikko Rantanen.

He never did clarify why he didn’t sign.

“I’m here to play hockey,” Marner told me after a practice in Los Angeles in late March.

A breakup is almost certainly what’s best for Marner.

A chance for him to start fresh as a star in a quieter market than Toronto, away from the daily scrutiny, and without any of the baggage that comes with being a Leaf.

Marner seemed OK with all of that in the early days of his Leafs career. He earned rave reviews from the Boston Bruins after his second playoff series in 2018, when he shined with nine points in a seven-game loss. He piled up 94 points, the most by a Leaf in more than 20 years, as a 21-year-old a season later.

Something seemed to shift that summer, however, when negotiations for Marner’s second contract turned sour.

Like William Nylander, who sat out the first three months of the 2018-19 season to procure his second contract, and Auston Matthews, who signed a five-year deal with what was then the third-highest cap hit in the league, Marner was unwilling to take less than what he felt he was owed.

He even sat out the first day of training camp that fall in Newfoundland to get it.

Coming in the aftermath of the spicy Nylander dispute, Marner faced an added layer of scrutiny for his contract desires, especially when the deal he signed offered no discount on money ($10.9 million cap hit) or term (six years).

It was, notably, for fewer years and cap dollars than the contract Nikita Kucherov, another talented winger, had signed in Tampa Bay a year earlier (eight years, $9.5 million cap hit).

Marner and Matthews have been linemates for most of their time as Maple Leafs. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)

Marner and the Leafs started slowly that year and coach Mike Babcock was fired in November.

What was once a rosy existence for a young and fun Leafs team turned darker and Marner seemed to absorb much of the criticism, which only got heavier and louder as he and the Leafs failed again and again in the postseason.

The bulk of that criticism, more than for Matthews or Nylander or even then-captain John Tavares, seemed to come Marner’s way.

Marner famously quit social media and spoke frequently about the need to tune out the negativity that surrounded the team in hard times.

Even in our conversation this past March, Marner noted, while speaking about his ability to play under pressure, that, “There are probably people out there with their opinions on it, but that’s why we don’t really give a s— about what people say.”

A bubbly, energetic player in the regular season, Marner’s performance turned tight playoff after playoff. He wasn’t the same playmaker or frenetic force. The usual joy on his face was gone.

That’s what makes his potential exit somewhat palatable for the Leafs, too.

They would lose the two-way powerhouse who helped them win a ton of games in the regular season. But that wasn’t the player they got in the postseason, at least not often enough, and certainly not in the biggest of games.

That doesn’t excuse the way the team ultimately handled any of this.

The Leafs — from Brendan Shanahan down — saw all the warning signs that maybe this market wasn’t quite right for Marner: the tense playoff performances, the discomfort in the spotlight, the way criticism stuck to him and those around him. Maybe they figured he would eventually grow out of it.

His talent was too awesome to move on from. It certainly appears to be out of their hands now.

A breakup would see Marner walk for nothing but cap space. But that cap space could allow the Leafs to remake their team, now and in the future, deepening and/or altering a lineup that has been perennially top-heavy.

It might allow them to pursue stars, this summer and beyond, tweaking the type of talent at the top of the roster — from slick skill alone to something different. It would definitely allow them to sign pending RFA Matthew Knies to the kind of long-term deal that cements him into a new core.

The argument for signing Marner? He’s a one-of-a-kind player who tilts the ice at both ends; he just turned 28; and one year he just might find that extra gear in the postseason, the kind of gear that helps the Leafs finally end their championship drought.

Replacing all that Marner does, whether it’s with one player or a collection of players, will be difficult, if not impossible — especially this summer when the top free agent is, well, Marner.

It’s possible that Marner has a change of heart in the coming weeks and decides he wants to stay, after all. And that whoever is running the Leafs decides they want to keep him around, too. Or maybe the Leafs, following yet another Groundhog Day postseason, finally decide it’s time to move on.

Whether it’s a mutual breakup or not, a parting of ways now feels like the best path forward — for Marner and for the Leafs.

(Top photo of Mitch Marner on Tuesday: R.J. Johnston / Toronto Star via Getty Images)

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