Mitch Marner's Fate With the Maple Leafs Made Official After Latest Darren Dreger Report

As free agency looks to be one filled with a ton of excitement and anxiety for NHL teams, players are going to be searching for the best deals financially, and for their future career prospects.

Mitch Marner headlines this year's class, and while he's expected to have a ton of suitors, there is a small chance that he could end up pulling a 180 and re-signing with Toronto.

According to NHL Insider Darren Dreger though, that's extremely wishful thinking:

If he didn't have his bags packed already, it feels like he almost assuredly does now. If Dreger is to be believed than it just confirms what we probably already knew which was Toronto was losing Marner this summer.

Be it due to money, lack of pressure, a chance to run his own offense or a combination of the three, he's headed to greener pastures.

Marner scored 102 points (27G, 75A) in 81 games this season, the first time he potted 100 points in his career.

Reports surfaced that shows he wants to head to either Florida or Vegas even though every team will no doubt try to pitch their plans come July 1. Spurning Toronto for Florida would make him public enemy #1 and vilified in the city for life.

It's going to sting, but yes they can. They won't have the same amount of firepower, and the importance of adding secondary scoring in even more apparent now than ever.

But they have the means to make a couple of moves, fix some roster roles and perhaps dump off some salary; it won't be a completely wasted season. Marner, as good as he is won't make the team so severely handicapped they drop out of contention.

Fans need to treat this next season as a bit of a transition from the Core 4 into the Core Three (if John Tavares re-signs) and it's going to look a lot different from the last decade.

The combination of Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, William Nylander, John Tavares and perhaps some new faces like William Karlsson, Mason Marchment or Pius Suter can certainly hold things down.

They'll have a healthy Anthony Stolarz too, and if he and Joseph Woll can replicate the same results they had this year, that's also a huge boost.

But regardless, losing Marner means that Toronto fans are going to have to get used to life without #16.