The more I think of this, the more I see the genius of Marner's position to force a crazy lucrative deal.
On the surface it seems like Marner has minimal leverage. But maybe he has the most important leverage of all--the Leafs can't replace him if they don't sign him. They simply cannot replace him as a player and as an asset.
What if Marner insists on Matthews' contact? Or 3 years x $11 million? Too rich? Ok, what do you do?
There is no offer sheet coming, so no 4 unprotected first rounders. With those crazy demands you probably can't trade him for fair value. What if the best trade you can pull off is a first and a handful of decent prospects?
So you let him sit and rot. But then you're without one of your best players in a Cup window year. And his absence is a dark cloud hanging over the team all year. If you bring him back late, you don't get full value out of Year 1 (if Nylander is any indication). And if he sits out the year, you probably can't ever bring him back. And his value will just continue to decline. Whenever you finally move him, you're getting 75 cents on the dollar.
So Marner is betting that Dubas won't have the stones to be "the guy who lost Mitch Marner." And eventually Dubas will figure out a way to pay Marner's ransom demands. And we are not going to like the contract when it finally gets done.