One narrative that has taken hold over the past year that I think Dubas would like to squash is this notion that while Marner might have wanted to sign a year ago, that the Leafs weren’t interested because they wanted to get Nylander signed first.
Not the case, Dubas clarified.
“If we would have had the opportunity to sign Mitch or Auston or William early on to a deal that we thought would fit within the framework of what we were doing or they were willing to sign, for us there was no trying to delay it, there was no trying to push it down the road,” Dubas said. “Going through all this, actually the first person once I took the job that I met with regarding any contract at all was Darren (Ferris), at the combine.
“I know that’s been floated out there and said (Leafs not willing to sign Marner a year ago), but from our end of it, we don’t look back and regret anything at all because we’ve just handled the situation as it’s come.’’
So how does this end?
