There has been communication between Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs ahead of the star forward’s contract expiring, but GM Brad Treliving said he expects Marner to hit the open market on July 1.Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
It doesn’t appear that the Maple Leafs are going to toss a life preserver into the water at the last minute in hope of wrenching Mitch Marner from the jaws of free agency.
At a news conference on Thursday, general manager Brad Treliving made it clear the club is not close to reaching an agreement with its star right winger, whose current contract expires on July 1.
“We have had communication,” Treliving said at the team’s practice facility in Etobicoke. “Not a whole lot has changed. I would anticipate he is going to hit the market.”
Selected in the first round of the 2015 NHL draft, Marner has become one of the league’s best playmakers. He cracked 100 points for the first time during the 2024-2025 regular season and has averaged more than a point per contest throughout his career.
He is seeking a more lucrative contract than the one that is expiring and Toronto is not inclined to get in a bidding war. The Maple Leafs previously sought permission from Marner to trade him but he declined.
“We’ll see how everything plays out,” Treliving said. “There is not a Mitch Marner tree you can go to and just replace him. You are trying to make your team better and the potential is there to lose a good player.”
Treliving spoke on the eve of the NHL draft, which will be held virtually in Los Angeles.
Toronto has a half-dozen picks but lacks a first rounder. It will make its first selection at No. 64, which is at the end of the second round. It also has one in the third, two in the fifth and one each in the sixth and seventh.
The first round takes place on Friday night with rounds two through seven on Saturday. Unless it makes a trade, Toronto will not a have a first-round choice in the next two years either.
The Maple Leafs traded this year’s first round pick and next year’s second round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2023 as a part of the deal to obtain defenceman Jake McCabe and forward Sam Lafferty. They traded away a conditional first round pick in 2027 at this year’s deadline to acquire Scott Laughton from the Philadelphia Flyers.
John Tavares (91) scored 38 goals for the Leafs last year. The veteran centre has been vocal about his desire to stay with the Leafs.Claus Andersen/Getty Images
The upcoming draft is not considered as deep as other years. The top prospects include 17-year-old defenceman Matthew Schaefer of the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League, centre Michael Misa of Saginaw, also of the OHL, and centre James Hagens of Boston College. Misa led the Canadian Hockey League with 134 points in the past season.
If Schaefer is taken first, he will be the first player from the OHL chosen at No. 1 since Connor McDavid in 2015.
Treliving and members of the scouting staff will conduct business from the Ford Performance Centre. Treliving said it is more likely the club will trade down in the draft rather than up.
“There will be roster change,” Treliving said. “There always is. We are open to everything but it has to make sense. I’m not going to move a prospect for the sake of getting another prospect.
“You have to balance everything.”
Without significant help expected, at least at the present, from the draft, Treliving is trying to nail down deals with several notable players.
Matthew Knies, the hard-nosed 22-year-old winger, is due a new contract and a sizable raise from his current US$925,000.
At this point Treliving has been more embroiled in talks with John Tavares, the 34-year-old centre who was second in scoring with 38 goals during the regular season. Tavares’s seven-year US$77-million contract also expires as of July 1.
“Things are moving,” Treliving said of the negotiations with Tavares. “It has been positive. We both expressed a shared outcome. John wants to stay and we want to keep John.”
Toronto hopes to come up with a shorter-term deal at less salary that will still be of Tavares’s liking.
“Like any contract, there are two stumbling blocks: term and money,” Treliving said. “Hopefully we are bringing it in a direction to bring it to closure.”