The Toronto Maple Leafs’ season came to a crashing end one week ago when they dropped Game Seven of their Eastern Conference semifinal series to the Florida Panthers, going out with a whimper by a 6-1 score. And with the defeat, the Maple Leafs’ career of a local boy who has played nine seasons with his hometown team, selected as an All-Star six times, may also have come to a close.
Mitch Marner was the Leafs’ first-round draft pick in 2015, taken fourth overall, making his debut just a year later. He made an immediate impact, with 61 points including 19 goals, helping Toronto reach the postseason for the first time in four years and only the second in the last 12.
The Maple Leafs have now reached the postseason every year that Marner has been with the team. But they have never advanced past the second round in that period, and in fact made it out of the first round just twice. Now, they face the loss of Marner as well.
Marner Appears Certain to Test Free Agency
The 28-year-old winger who tallied 102 points with 27 goals in 81 games in 2024-2025 already declined a contract extension that would have been the “biggest in franchise history,” according to one NHL insider.
The extension offer came after general manager Brad Treliving’s attempt to deal Marner to the Dallas Stars for forward Mikko Rantanen, according to Leafs’ beat writer Jonas Siegel of The Athletic.
Following the series loss to Florida, Marner spoke of his Toronto career in the past tense, and according to a report by NHL Trade Talk, has made up his mind to enter unrestricted free agency.
Now, the question becomes â where will Marner end up? According to a report by Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff, Marner appears to have narrowed the field somewhat, ruling out all six Canada-based franchises.
Insider: Marner Drawn to ‘Fantastic California Life’
According to one NHL insider journalist, Ryan Dixon of the Toronto-based Canada-wide TV network SportsNet, the bright lights of Hollywood may be beckoning to Marner.
The Los Angeles Kings, despite a solid 105-point season that was good enough for second in the Pacific Division, still need scoring. Los Angeles ranked 14th overall in goals scored with 249. That lack of offensive punch is one main reason the Kings have exited in the first round for four straight years now, all to the same team, the Edmonton Oilers.
“The need for scoring â and bringing in players who can help with that â has been an organizational theme in L.A. for 15 years. In 2012, the club made a swap with Columbus to acquire Jeff Carter; two years later, L.A. went back to the Columbus well to snag Marian Gaborik, who wound up leading the playoffs in goals in 2014 as L.A. won its second title in three years,” wrote Dixon.
The Sportsnet writer expects the Kings to be the first to call Marner once his free agency becomes official on July 1.
“The bones of this L.A. squad may not be quite as sturdy as those championship-level teams from 2012 and 2014, but thereâs no doubt the Kings are a team that could hit a whole other level with an injection of raw talent,” Dixon wrote. “From Marnerâs perspective, L.A. would seem to be as appealing a fit as any team weâll touch on today. You can see the potential for deep playoff runs while your family lives a fantastic California life.”
One thing about Marner’s future appears certain. Whoever signs him will need to pay him considerably more than the $10.9 million he made from Toronto in the final season of his six-year, $65.4 million contract.
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