Ferris appeared on The PuckPedia Hockey Show to discuss a number of topics, including offer sheets, Bowen Byram\u2019s new deal with the Chicago Blackhawks and more, but his commentary on Marner should raise a few eyebrows in Toronto, and across the hockey world.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s really enjoying it there,\u201d Ferris said of Marner. \u201cHe\u2019s got a clear mind. He\u2019s able to focus on hockey. It\u2019s unfortunate in Toronto, the way the things they went. When he first signed with the Leafs, on his entry-level (contract) they did not want him to have performance bonuses in there. Mitch decided he would help the team out, they asked him to. I had some pressures from guys who were working for the London Knights, and also working for the Leafs.<\/p>\n
\u201cMitch told me, Darren, I want to sign this. Against my wishes, they did. They promised, nobody get him, and they didn\u2019t fulfill that. He soon found out that a promise isn\u2019t in the contract, isn\u2019t a promise. Nobody talks about Mitch did the team a favour back then. There was a lot of misinformation out there that transpired. To this day, people say he didn\u2019t show up to training camp. He did, he didn\u2019t miss a day of training camp. It just kept spiralling into misinformation, that made him a villain here in this city. I think the majority of people who support him, but there are always those people who are fanatic about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s certainly odd for Ferris to be fixated on Marner\u2019s contract negotiations, seven years removed from it. Marner signed a six-year extension with the Maple Leafs in September 2019 and remained as one of the faces of the franchise. He would\u2019ve certainly become one of the all-time great Leafs, if he had signed a new deal with the club after the 2024-25 campaign Marner effectively bet on himself entering the final year of his Maple Leafs\u2019 tenure, and played the worst two games of his career on home ice during a second-round elimination at the hands of the Florida Panthers in 2025. It was revealed after the year ended that Marner had already targeted the Golden Knights for the better part of a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs time went on, he became the focus of everything,\u201d Ferris said. \u201cScrutinized for every game, him and his family criticized for every loss, receiving threats on social media, which was disturbing. You got to remember, Mitch was carjacked in Toronto. Every time the team came up short, he was the one singled out. Hockey is a team game, you can\u2019t pinpoint one person. This is the person who had the most playoff points on the team and played through a fractured ankle in the Boston series. He really bled for that team. He was never protected by his organization, in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was never protected by his organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Darren Ferris on Mitch Marner\u2019s tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Starting all the way with no performance bonuses in his entry-level contract, to how he became the playoff scapegoat.<\/p>\n
Full episode for your commute home below \u2b07\ufe0f<\/p>\n
We\u2019re not going to spoil the entire interview from Ferris, who touches on a wide range of topics. And while it\u2019s natural for an agent to defend their client in public, it appears that Ferris is trying to create new animus with the Maple Leafs organization, while treading on an old topic. You can never go home again and Marner is persona non grata in the City of Toronto, in large part due to the advice he received from his camp during two contract negotiations.<\/p>\n
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