The Toronto Maple Leafs will be a team to watch this offseason as Mitch Marner and John Tavares are both pending free agents.
Marner is the top free agent available and will be in for a massive payday this summer. He’s in the final year of his six-year, $65.41 million deal, and NHL analyst Paul Bissonette doesn’t think Toronto should re-sign him.
Instead, Bissonnette believes the Maple Leafs should sign Florida Panthers star forward Sam Bennett instead of re-signing Marner.
“Sam Bennett, folks, he’s going to be wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey next year,” Bissonnette said on Spittin’ Chiclets. “We are going to be offering him a nice contract with the money we saved by not handing it over to other people (Marner).”
Bissonnette believes Marner hasn’t shown in the playoffs that he’s worth the $14 million per season he wants in free agency. With that, the analyst thinks Toronto should let him walk and instead sign Bennett for less money, who is a gritty forward and will play tougher in the playoffs.
Bennett is in the final year of his four-year, $17.7 million deal with the Panthers. He’s recorded 5 goals and 3 assists for 8 points in 9 playoff games. In the season, he had 25 goals and 26 assists for 71 points in 76 games.
Maple Leafs GM Wants to Keep Marner
The Maple Leafs will have an interesting offseason, regardless of how they do these playoffs.
Marner was asked to waive his no-trade clause in a potential trade for Mikko Rantanen. After he said no, Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said he wants to keep Marner in Toronto.
“We’re aligned with Mitch, we’re worried about this season. We’re worried about the games we have coming up. We want Mitch here for a long time,” Treliving said on March 7. “It’s not a distraction, but like I said we think the world of him. But, it’s just not a question we’re going to get into every day.”
Marner, however, has said he won’t comment on his contract or discuss it all season. So, at this point, it seems likely he will go to free agency on July 1.
Marner recorded 27 goals and 75 assists for 102 points in 81 games. In the playoffs, he has 2 goals and 10 assists for 12 points in 10 games.
Maple Leafs Coach Pleased With Team’s Effort
Toronto won the first two games of their playoff series against the Florida Panthers.
However, the Maple Leafs lost Games 3 and 4 on the road, as the series is now tied. After Game 4, Toronto’s coach Craig Berube praised Joseph Woll as well as being pleased with his team’s compete.
“He was great, played an excellent game,” Berube said. “He was a big reason that it was only 1-0 (going into the third)… In the end, I really liked our physicality, our compete. Guys are playing hard. This is a tough series. They’re a very good team.”
Toronto lost 2-0 to Florida in Game 4. Despite being shut out, the Maple Leafs aren’t worried. But, Toronto’s captain, Auston Matthews, says Florida outplayed them in Game 4 so they need to be better in Game 5.
“There was times where we were better, but I think just consistently, over the 60 minutes, they outworked us and outplayed us in that area,” Matthews said.
Game 5 is set for May 14 at 7 p.m. ET.
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