Darren Dreger Reports on Mitch Marner's Shocking Two-Year Free Agency Plan
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NHL Insider Darren Dreger reports that Mitch Marner's potential two-year deal in free agency isn't as crazy as some may come to believe.
With the constant talk surrounding where Mitch Marner is going to end up this summer, the amount of speculation regarding the length and price of his deal have been on both ends of the spectrum.
We've heard rumors of a $14-million+ deal for seven or eight years, which evolved into a four-year deal where Marner can test free agency with a massive cap increase, to all of a sudden hearing about a two-year pact that will essentially be an audition for other teams to prove he can be a difference maker when it counts.
Two years for Mitch isn't quite that surprising: Darren Dreger
Either way he's going to get paid, but for NHL Insider Darren Dreger, he believes that the two-year idea regarding Marner isn't as surprising as we think it would be.
Speaking on TSN 1050's First Up program, Dreger explained that while Marner getting two years might initially look weird, but there is some precedent:
A little but not gobsmacked surprised. The one thing we've seen first hand with Auston Matthews is to take the shorter term and maximize your earning power as the cap continues to increase.
Marner had a front row seat to that. When you're a top end player and have the gonads to bet on yourself, in the long run you're going to make more money. There's a lot of risk though, what if you sign that two year deal and it doesn't work out the way you wanted it to?
I don't predict thats the case with Marner, we've seen enough of his body of work to know he's a star. Two years seems light, but four or five? Easily. - Darren Dreger
Marner had a front row seat to that. When you're a top end player and have the gonads to bet on yourself, in the long run you're going to make more money. There's a lot of risk though, what if you sign that two year deal and it doesn't work out the way you wanted it to?
I don't predict thats the case with Marner, we've seen enough of his body of work to know he's a star. Two years seems light, but four or five? Easily. - Darren Dreger
So is it actually plausible for Marner to sign such a short deal knowing the risks?
Marner can do whatever he pleases, as long as it makes him the most money
It seems that Marner really only wants to maximize his financial potential and while that is well within his rights, the constant flip-flopping when it comes to what he wants with his next deal is indicative of a different problem.
He can't make up his mind and unless everything goes his way he'll make changes and act out until he gets what he wants. We saw it before with him signing his first big deal in Toronto, and we saw it when he declined several trades.
He didn't want the Leafs to win, he wanted to be the hero for Toronto and he failed time and time again. If he truly wanted to do what was best for the team, he would have given them some assets knowing he was on the way out.
Marner had a fantastic tenure but he never really picked it up when things mattered, and his reputation for not coming through in the clutch may come to haunt him on his future deals.
He put up a 102-point campaign and was clearly motivated to make as much money as he could this summer; he has 741 points in 657 games (221G, 520A) in his nine seasons in Toronto.
It's just how Marner gets there in the end that's going to make some scratch heads and wonder if whoever signs him knows what they are in for.
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JUIN 23 | 578 ANSWERS Darren Dreger Reports on Mitch Marner's Shocking Two-Year Free Agency Plan Will Mitch Marner sign a two-year deal in free agency? | ||
| Yes | 227 | 39.3 % |
| No | 351 | 60.7 % |
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