Two sides to every coin, etc. Let's take the emotion out of it and look at it rationally:
- Knowing they'd be bad, protected Marner by sending him back to London for D+1 - hard to argue he, and the team, didn't benefit immensely from it.
- Sided with the player during the Babcock situation. Fired Babcock. Hired a player's coach in Keefe.
- Publicly backed the player at every possibility.
- Publicly walked back anything perceived as the slightest form of criticism of the player
- Recruited John Tavares by offering him the chance to play alongside Marner, but then moved Marner back with Matthews once Marner requested it after year 1 of Tavares (where JT scored a career high 47 goals)
- Watched him hold out for a massive above market value deal that prioritized all of Mitch's wants, and none of the team's needs.
- Gave Marner the money he wanted on his 2019 deal.
- Gave Marner the term he wanted on his 2019 deal.
- Gave Marner the full trade protection he wanted on his 2019 deal.
- Shrugged off the contentious nature of the negotiations in 2019 by backing the player publicly.
- Refused to trade him in 2021, 2022, or 2023, and undercutting the trade protection that had yet to kick in
- Hired a new coach in 2024, whose first official task was to not meet with the captain, but Mitch Marner.
- Refused to go to him asking for him to waive the trade protection despite it clearly not working out here.
- Offered him 8x $13.5
- Only approached him about waiving for Rantanen after it became apparent a new deal couldn't be reached, and that his camp refused to engage all season.
- When the player got upset that the team went public with the Rantanen trade, the GM came out less than 24 hours later and, again, publicly supported the player.
- Have refused to publicly make him a scapegoat despite the constant failings.
- Have refused to publicly single him out despite him being the worst of the core 4 players late in series (0 goals in 18 playoff game 5/6/7s combined).
I have no issue with Marner choosing to leave. Whether he wants to leave for more money, or a better chance to win, or because he simply doesn't like the pressure or criticism of Toronto? Fair play to him. He's earned that right.
But can we please stop with this ridiculous pretending that this guy is being driven out of town? They wanted resign him all year, and there's still a number of fans, such as yourself, who put player before team despite the player not doing anything to warrant it.
The organization has given him absolutely everything he has asked for, and then some. He's repaid them by failing to perform on the ice, and by acting entitled & defensive off of it.
Get a grip.
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