![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/marner-3-e1754743318464.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Toronto Maple Leafs did well to pass on Mitch Marner this offseason, potentially avoiding a major disaster.<\/p>\n
The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a>\u2018 saga involving Mitch Marner came to a head this summer, with the club passing on Marner. The Leafs were smart enough to recoup a valuable piece in Nicolas Roy from what was otherwise a lost cause.<\/p>\n Some fans and analysts criticized the Maple Leafs for not doing more to retain Marner. Mainly, the soured relationship between the star winger and the team was among the key reasons why Marner was reluctant to re-sign with Toronto.<\/p>\n But the Maple Leafs were right to pass on breaking the bank to keep Marner in the fold for a key reason. An August 6 piece in The Athletic<\/a> looked at the contract efficiency of all 32 teams. Collectively, the Vegas Golden Knights ranked seventh in the league. Their smart cap management has allowed the club to navigate the complexities of the NHL salary cap.<\/p>\n But digging a little deeper into the Golden Knights<\/a>\u2019 roster, an interesting number pops up. Mitch Marner\u2019s contract is not among the team\u2019s best. In fact, Marner\u2019s contract is near the bottom for two reasons.<\/p>\n Firstly, The Athletic Positive Value Probability ranks Marner\u2019s contract with a 55.4%. In other words, it\u2019s pretty much 50\/50 that Marner\u2019s contract will be a good one in the long run.<\/p>\n Secondly, the contract\u2019s total surplus value is only \u00a0$3.3 million. That number reveals that the Golden Knights shouldn\u2019t expect Marner\u2019s contract to age very well.<\/p>\n Those two numbers make a compelling argument to justify the Maple Leafs\u2019 decision to let Marner take his act to Vegas.<\/p>\n Maple Leafs Could Have Avoided an Albatross<\/p>\n Undoubtedly, Mitch Marner is a great player today. But judging from The Athletic\u2019s assessment, there\u2019s no telling how much longer that will be the case. Marner\u2019s $12.4 million cap hit<\/a> may look steep now, but the rising cap ceiling could ultimately water down the contract.<\/p>\n But that perception will only hold as long as Marner is a productive player. But as he gets into his 30s, his production could decline. If that\u2019s the case, the contract could age poorly. But the last two or three years, Marner\u2019s deal could become an albatross.<\/p>\n The risk here is that the Golden Knights get stuck with an untradeable contract by year five or six. That\u2019s a ticking time bomb that the Maple Leafs did well to avoid.<\/p>\n Of course, there\u2019s always the chance that Marner channels his inner Sidney Crosby. If he can sustain his high level of play, Marner could make the Maple Leafs look foolish five or six years from now.<\/p>\n Leafs May Regret Letting Marner Go<\/p>\n The Toronto Maple Leafs may end up regretting Marner\u2019s departure. While the relationship was highly fractured, the team could have taken steps to remedy the situation. Perhaps there was more the club could have done to keep Marner in the fold.<\/p>\n Now, that\u2019s all conjecture. There\u2019s no telling if anything could have happened to repair the relationship between Marner and the Maple Leafs. So, Marner\u2019s inevitable departure could lead the Leafs to regret not having done more to keep him in the fold.<\/p>\n Perhaps Marner will go the way of Phil Kessel. Kessel was essentially driven out of town. The Maple Leafs shipped him off to the Pittsburgh Penguins where he won two Stanley Cups.<\/p>\n If Marner\u2019s path follows that of Kessel\u2019s, the Maple Leafs could be wearing the dunce cap yet again.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tNestor Quixtan<\/a> Seasoned NHL analyst focused on covering all 32 teams with news, analysis, and insights. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Nestor’s singular experiences and background have enabled him to bring a different take on the sports world as a whole. More about Nestor Quixtan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Maple Leafs\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Toronto Maple Leafs did well to pass on Mitch Marner this offseason, potentially avoiding a major…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-57301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}