Brad Treliving Finally Addresses Reports on Mitch Marner No-Move Clause in Mikko Rantanen Trade Talks

With the NHL Trade Deadline behind us, we nearly saw a wild deal involving Mitch Marner and Mikko Rantanen. Carolina wanted Toronto's superstar, and Marner wanted to stay put. It's going to be one of the biggest what ifs in modern NHL history.

But GM Brad Treliving had all the faith that Marner is going to win here, and was going to fight tooth and nail to keep his winger at any cost:

It's a great sign that Treliving is adamantly behind his star winger, and realizes that even though his contract situation looms in the background, he wants to face that head on instead of dishing Marner off and disrupting the flow and chemistry of the locker room.

Marner is enjoying the best season of his career with 79 points in 62 games (21G, 58A) and was also instrumental in helping Team Canada win the 4 Nations Face-Off earlier this season.

It would be great wouldn't it? If the Maple Leafs can somehow get out of their own way when it comes to their internal salary cap and Marner decides the open market doesn't offer him the best chance for immediate success without some harsh rebuilding years; then it's a match made in heaven.

That's a huge ask for both parties.

Toronto seems hellbent on keeping Auston Matthews the highest paid player on their team and without budging on the few hundred thousand dollars difference between the captain and Marner's next deal; it's going to be hard to convince him.

What if he fails again too? Marner in the prime of his career, off his best numbers, with yet another playoff failure? There would be no incentive to stay, he's done this for nine years and had nothing to show for it; perhaps ego gets the better of him and he decides to head elsewhere to run the show as the #1 option.

If the team decides to stop being so stubborn and even pay Marner $13.75M (a shade under what people anticipate but still also a bit more than Matthews) they should just offer it already.

But even then it might not be enough for Marner, who will be under the finest of microscopes for the next couple of months.