GDT: End of season media availability - Today

[WilliamInLondon]

honestly, i am just going to point out - Sundin - who is basically beloved - still got mega side-eyed and booed for not taking a trade to help the team and I get that it's complicated and there are a lot of factors that go into this - but this is how i see it -


if you know you are not going to come back why are you staying? like i get it. his wife is pregnant and whatever but pregnant women travel (see military/seminary/all these other types of wives who get pregnant and still move if their husband needs to be relocated). then you go "oh i care about the team/players/fans) like okay then accept you aren't wanted (FOR WHATEVER reason and go play where people will ike you).

THEN on top of this people are defending how he got 'screwed" on his contract. oh boohoo he didn't get a specific type of bonus. boohoo. he wanted to get majorly paid, didn't happen pouted/sat out, acted like a spoiled child then barely shows up in the playoffs, then it's "well leaf fans are jsut so mean and difficult to him."

when other better players worked with management to ensure that everyone could stay together and still get a good deal for themselves because they wanted to win as a team.


sorry

before any name plate.

I agree 100% with your bolded - I don't buy the whole pregnant argument, tbh. My partner and I make like 3% combined what Mitch made this season, and we moved to an entirely new non-English speaking country for work while she has been pregnant in a high-risk pregnancy. So us common folk don't have nearly the same amenities or money or opportunity as Marner, and even then, we consider ourselves fortunate and sufficiently well off to be able to manage these sudden life changes.

Yes, he had a NMC. Yes, it was 100% within his right and remit to exercise it. But let's not bring his 7 month wife's pregnancy as the primary reason for him to choose not to move when hundreds of thousands (or millions) of people need to make such decisions globally with a fraction of the means to do so.

 

[Rare Jewel]

Didn’t seem that dramatic. It was corporate and businesslike with a touch of regret.

Well, the PR people are doing their job, then.

 

[Tak7]

I don't blame Marner for leaving. Screwed on his ELC, scapegoated on his next contract, robbed at gunpoint, and someone threatened to kill his newborn child after game 7. He's gone and Toronto doesn't deserve him.

• "Screwed on his ELC" - none of the kids got entry level bonuses on their ELCs. Only one of them took it very personally.

• "Scapegoated on his next contract" - milked his boyhood team for every penny he could get, flirted with other teams for offer sheets, and used media talking heads to negotiate publicly on his behalf, instead of taking fair market value.

Everyone's free to have their opinions on how things played out, but let's not get the facts f***ing twisted here.

 

[arso40]

He doesn’t stop playing does he ?

 

[Daisy Jane]

Pressure is a privilege. like the fact that people are trying to make this a thing just boggles my mind. especially this close to the Olympics anyone spouting that "oh yeah pressure sucks, media circus," i'd legit be so you're not coming.

 

[Martin Skoula]

i hope for the leafs sake they trade marners rights for something before free agency starts, letting walk for nothing would be a huge kick in the face

I hope they demote his rights to the ECHL or buy out his remaining 0$ over 0 years to make a point.

 

[Daisy Jane]

• "Screwed on his ELC" - none of the kids got entry level bonuses on their ELCs. Only one of them took it very personally.

• "Scapegoated on his next contract" - milked his boyhood team for every penny he could get, flirted with other teams for offer sheets, and used media talking heads to negotiate publicly on his behalf, instead of taking fair market value.

Everyone's free to have their opinions on how things played out, but let's not get the facts f***ing twisted here.

I remember Nylander sitting out.
Did Mitch?


I know things were ugly with his dad?

 

[A1LeafNation]

I agree 100% with your bolded - I don't buy the whole pregnant argument, tbh. My partner and I make like 3% combined what Mitch made this season, and we moved to an entirely new non-English speaking country for work while she has been pregnant in a high-risk pregnancy. So us common folk don't have nearly the same amenities or money or opportunity as Marner, and even then, we consider ourselves fortunate and sufficiently well off to be able to manage these sudden life changes.

Yes, he had a NMC. Yes, it was 100% within his right and remit to exercise it. But let's not bring his 7 month wife's pregnancy as the primary reason for him to choose not to move when hundreds of thousands (or millions) of people need to make such decisions globally with a fraction of the means to do so.

Me and my wife wouldn't move if she was 7 months pregnant if we didn't have to.

 

[mogs]

Is Treliving and/or Shanahan not talking today? If so, that's a complete unacceptable thing. Maybe they'll talk tomorrow or another date, but no reason you can't have your management leadership present infront of cameras.

It'll be Friday afternoon at 4pm so when they announce no changes they can go to Muskoka for the weekend to hang out on Marner's boat.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Seems like “we lost the structure” is the thing PR is telling everyone to say

The structure of turtling in their own zone and getting shelled?

 

[arso40]

Can't disagree with any of it. But it really didn't have to be this way - too bad the whole situation was poorly managed on Marner's side and he couldn't go the extra mile.

Matthews making it sound like Marner is 100% gone. And I think it's the best for everyone tbh.

What did he say ?

 

[KMNRB]

It was reported from multiple sources that Rantanen was prepared to sign long term in Toronto if he got traded to the Leafs.

Kyper also said fairly recently that Rantanen decided Dallas over Toronto in the end (remember, they were having trouble negotiating with Dallas) because he really wanted to pay back Colorado for the way he was treated in the end. So in the end maybe it really doesn't matter if Mitch agreed to be traded or not.

 

[Aashir]

Ya, a pregnant wife that wouldn't be able to move with him. No chance I'd be going anywhere either.

I don't blame marner for that nixxed trade, especially with how late into the pregnancy it was. He's gonna do whats best for his wife and I fully respect that.

The specific rantanen trade I place blame entirely on....Dubas. Why on earth did marner get a full-NMC on his first deal when Draisaitl, Pastrnak, Rantanen didn't is beyond wild

with that being said, if he decides to sign in carolina it's gonna feel like such a kick to the nuts

 

[NVious]

Another year, more non answers from Matthews about his injuries.

Hope he and Mitch don't come back, at least happy to see Mitch is gone, a true loser through and through. He knew he wasn't coming back, but f***ed us one last time by not accepting a trade.

 

[Stephen]

I kind of feel bad for him. Another poster in a different thread astutely captured the evolution of Mitch Marner from this carefree kid during his ELC to a completely different person after he signed the big contract and had the weight of his shoulders on him. Bad way to go, especially if this wasn't of his own choosing but just counsel from others dictating how he should go about his business.

Not sure Mitch is as care free as he likes to be characterized. Before his draft there was a THN article about how he suffered a crisis in confidence in London and had to go home to Toronto and reconnect with a Don Mills guy to get some perspective before going back to the Knights to find his game.

He seems like a very sensitive person who has to project a callousness without understanding how to connect to the market. For a guy from the market, it’s shocking.

Even the way he was “mistreated” by Toronto, it doesn’t really register with me. Schedule A vs B bonuses. I think before Mitch a lot of people would have never even thought about them. He certainly made all his money back in short order.

Babcock gate. I dunno, seemed like a negative experience but the stuff of legend?

The incessant comparisons to the franchise’s first overall pick?

Just seems like he could have been a lot more easygoing about things and still gotten like at least 98% of what he ended up with. He put himself in a pretzel.

 

[Peasy]

I remember Nylander sitting out.
Did Mitch?


I know things were ugly with his dad?

He didnt sign until the middle of training camp. There were constant threats he would sign an offer sheet or just play in Switzerland

 

[Rare Jewel]

I mentioned the same thing yesterday in a conversation with @rumman, I believe.

With Mitch leaving, could AM34 just say I've had enough? He's American, no real ties here. Is there a chance he would prefer to go home to the US, maybe even to an Anaheim, LA or somewhere warm? Would he prefer to want out himself? Just his body language seems, I don't know, off? Maybe he is just sick of the spotlight?

I think it's a very real possibility.

Today is probably a bad day for him to access that.

They just lost, Mitch is leaving, and his passengers quote is being blown out of proportion, and he is hard to read; he's both perfect for Toronto and frustrating with the way he handles things.

 

[nuck]

We shall see I guess. If his decline is permanent we will be second guessing the treatment and management of timelines.

What kind of an injury hangs around all season, won't require surgery but allowed him to suit up in a meaningless game 82? Better on the dot than the last two years so I would say can't be wrist but his shot volume per game is down. His hits per 60 this season were 1.96 but prior two years were over 3.1 and this playoff half the rate as last year.

He's had shoulder issues more than once in the past or his back maybe. Hope its legitimately something that can be therapied out.

 

[AvroArrow]

Just pay 8 million to Bennett. At least he'll take someone's goalie out

Bennett in a Leafs jersey would get a 5 minute major and 10 game suspension in game 1 of the playoffs

 

[ACC1224]

I remember Nylander sitting out.
Did Mitch?


I know things were ugly with his dad?

He missed the first day of camp, Nylander wrote the season off.

 

[Daisy Jane]

He didnt sign until the middle of training camp. There were constant threats he would sign an offer sheet or just play in Switzerland

hey peasy!

see. i am telling you. this is why i can't be in charge of anything. I'd be like okay cool. have fun. We own your rights so when you come back next year we'll try again.

 

[Just Rude]

if you know you are not going to come back why are you staying? like i get it. his wife is pregnant and whatever but pregnant women travel (see military/seminary/all these other types of wives who get pregnant and still move if their husband needs to be relocated).

I'm no Marner apologist, but that's not how it works. Contractually, Marner has earned the right to test free agency, and go where he wants, whether that's Toronto, Anaheim, Tampa, wherever. Rantanen wasn't coming here unless Marner signed an extension with Carolina, but maybe that wasn't a place he wanted to spend the next seven years of his life, with a new child?

As for waiving to be a "rental", he was about to have a kid. Can't blame him. Again, it's his right. I sure as hell wouldn't want to move or be away from my wife if she was seven months pregnant with our first kid.

I am glad he will never play another game for the Leafs, but blaming him for not waiving to go to Carolina is a bit of a stretch.

The time to trade Marner was before the NMC kicked in, not after. It was horrible asset management on the Leafs part, and if anyone is to blame, it's the f***ing idiot who handed out NMCs like candy.

 

[AvroArrow]

I would definitely take Tavares back on a team friendly deal. He still has some gas left in the tank.

The cap space that would have been required to keep Marner on the other hand could be better utilized elsewhere. We can realistically sign 2 impact forwards with a stronger playoff pedigree for 13-14 million dollars.

We can acquire Kuzmenko + Boeser for just 1-2M more than what Marner is going to demand, I would much rather prefer that. That way if 1 guy takes game 7 off, chances the 2nd guy does are pretty slim.

 

[Daisy Jane]

his passengers quote is being blown out of proportion

how is it being blown out of proportion?

 

[MajorLeaf]

I respect Matthews right not to disclose an injury. That said, he made it clear the injury was an issue since training camp and yet still played in the 4 nations tournament and not rest up?

I understand wanting to play for country even with giving him the captaincy for Team USA, but my goodness if you are injured don’t keep aggravating it. The olympics are next year as well, why not rest out on 4 nations tournament and just wait to play in the olympics??

This me first attitude of these players is what’s wrong with what has happened the last 9 years.