The Toronto Maple Leafs are entering an intriguing season with John Tavares and Mitch Marner both having expiring contracts next offseason, and as training camp is set to start, both players spoke on their situations, and they took different approaches.
“Obviously I want to be here,” John Tavares said, via Chris Johnston of The Athletic. “I want to be here long term. Hopefully that happens.”
Tavares joined the Maple Leafs in free agency in 2018, leaving the New York Islanders to join his childhood favorite team. It was a controversial move for Islanders fans, but it is easy to see why Tavares wants to stay with the Maple Leafs for the long-term. He has been there six seasons now, gave up the captaincy this offseason so that Auston Matthews could take the role. It will be interesting to see if Tavares and the Maple Leafs can make something work. It seems like Tavares values location and comfort, so he could theoretically leave some money on the table to stay in Toronto, which is what he did when initially signing with the team.
Mitch Marner took a bit of a different approach when asked about his contract status.
“I'm not here to talk about that,” Marner said, via Johnston. “I'm here to talk about the season.”
Clearly, Marner is not worrying about his contract status. It is understandable, as he has caught a lot of heat in recent years for his playoff performance, whether that is fair or not. Marner is seven years younger than Tavares, so he probably will be in line for a bigger and longer contract. He also produces more than Tavares, as he put up 85 points in 69 games last season, according to Hockey Reference. Tavares put up 65 points in 80 games.
Can the Maple Leafs keep John Tavares and Mitch Marner?
While Marner is the better and younger player at this point in comparison to Tavares, it might be more feasible for the Maple Leafs to keep the latter. It is not as if Tavares is a bad player either, and he will undoubtedly cost less to keep.
Regardless, the same core of Maple Leafs have a lot of pressure on them this season, as they are locked in on final years of their deals. If they once again do not show up in the playoffs this year, Toronto has the flexibility to reallocate their funds to other players in free agency.
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