According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Vegas Golden Knights and Toronto Maple Leafs are in active negotiations for a sign-and-trade deal that would see Mitch Marner end up in Nevada. Friedman followed up on the initial report, stating that forward Nicolas Roy is expected to be part of the return to Toronto if a deal is finalized. A few moments later, TSN’s Bruce Garrioch reported that the Maple Leafs requested defenseman Nicolas Hague in the return as well.
Although sign-and-trades of this caliber are exceptionally rare, the Golden Knights’ motivation to make the move now, instead of pursuing Marner for nothing in a few days, is likely twofold. Acquiring him with a new contract in place now eliminates all competition for his services, and would allow Vegas to add an eighth year to his contract via Toronto.
Besides the magnitude of the hypothetical trade, the news comes with little surprise. The Golden Knights are no stranger to making sizeable additions to the roster and have been linked to Marner by various outlets for several weeks.
Depending on the dollar amount for Marner’s next deal, Vegas should be able to get a deal done rather comfortably. Assuming Roy is in the trade, the Golden Knights would have approximately $8.6MM available in cap space, with an additional $8.8MM available if defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is headed for the long-term injured reserve.
Adding Marner to a forward core that already includes Jack Eichel and Mark Stone would be enough to create one of the most dynamic offenses in the league. Eichel was the team’s leader in points this past season, scoring 28 goals and 94 points in 77 games. Meanwhile, Marner recently concluded the best individual season of his career, scoring 27 goals and 102 points in 81 contests with a +18 rating. 
Despite not having a 100-point scorer in their brief team history, Vegas was still able to finish with the league’s fifth-best offense this season, averaging 3.34 goals per game. Unfortunately, their defense may suffer as a result of the trade.
Assuming Pietrangelo is headed for the LTIR, and Hague is included in the trade, that leaves the Golden Knights in the unenviable position of giving consistent minutes to Ben Hutton and Kaedan Korczak throughout the 2025-26 campaign, with few dollars to improve. They may find better options on the trade market, but it’ll be challenging with Marner presumably anchoring their salary cap table.
According to Friedman, Vegas views their situation similarly when it comes to their defensive core. The insider for Sportsnet indicated earlier that the Golden Knights attempted to acquire defenseman Rasmus Andersson from the Calgary Flames earlier this week, though nothing worthwhile came to fruition.
Meanwhile, while only knowing a few of the reported names hypothetically headed to Toronto, Roy would be a quality addition for the Maple Leafs. Although he’s best used as a third-line center, Roy would bring a ton of versatility to Toronto’s forward with the ability to play up and down a lineup.
He’s been a consistent secondary scorer for the Golden Knights over the past four years, scoring 57 goals and 141 points in 284 games with a +26 rating, averaging 15:48 of ice time per night while maintaining a 47.9% success rate in the faceoff dot. Additionally, he’s a capable presence in the playoffs, scoring three goals and 11 points in 22 postseason contests during Vegas’ run to a Stanley Cup title in 2023.
Moving to the blue line, Hague is a known commodity in the league and has generated plenty of interest this summer. Utilizing a similar playstyle to Jake McCabe, Hague is a quality top-four option who can eat meaningful minutes. Although he’s not much of a point producer, Hague is an incredibly physical defenseman and stalwart in the defensive zone, managing a 90.9% on-ice save percentage in 364 games as a Golden Knight.
Vegas has been reported for a few weeks now as the favorite to land Mitch Marner & it seems they’re not looking to wait to FA to get Marner. Vegas is probably wanting to do a sign and trade with Toronto because they need to clear cap space. This would be a big get for Vegas.
Be good for the Leafs too, as they wouldn’t lose Marner for nothing.
Be a godsend for the leafs. Vegas doesn’t have bad contracts so they getting good value somewhere. The issue with that is Vegas loses All that extra value that trading those guys separate would extract.
Stone and Petrangelo are overpaid at this point wym? Stone is no longer worth a $9.5M contract and Petrangelo isn’t worth his contract anymore either, hard to say Hill was ever worth $6M AAV as well, Eichel and Theodore are the only premium expensive contracts that are still elite players there
Stone and petrangelo aren’t overpaid. Chris kreider just returned positive value, evander kane, coyle, burakovski. This off-season is changing value if you havent noticed.
Wow, that would be something, else.
I’ve come to terms with Marner leaving for another team; however, this is probably the worst possible outcome short of him joining the Panthers.
Senators? Worst possible outcome for Leafs fans?
Detroit? For the old guard? Panthers would’ve sucked but he doesn’t fit their play style.
Let him hide in Vegas.
This is best case scenario for leafs. top 4 D a 3C for a guy who wasn’t coming back. Leafs would have a plethora of D to acquire either another top 6 forward or a good prospect. Leafs can plug Cowan into Marner’s spot on the top line. Get a 2nd liner winger to play with Willy and JT. Now they just need to trade Rielly and the offseason would be a slam dunk
Marchand is holding on line 1 :)
I just really dislike Vegas for being so good so quickly after joining the league, and for their LTIR shenanigans.
Chicago did it. Tampa did it. You hate them too? :)
It’s good for hockey. Be happy!
why. he’s in the west so leafs only need to care if they get to a cup final
lire shenanigans aside, TB and fla have also perfected it
Leafs won’t get there ………..without Marner!!!!!!
LTIR-cap-circumvention can’t be that good since they’re getting rid of it in the new CBA.
But the biggest problem is the total lack of suffering Vegas fans have had. Every other team’s fan base has suffered. Vegas fans deserve to suffer too.
This is hilarious. Cowan with zero NHL games under his belt is gonna come in and all of a sudden play well on Toronto’s top line. Not only they but you expect a team to take on Rielly (who has a full NMC) and his $7.5mm cap hit for the next 5 years. I love reading/hearing Leafs’ fans suggestions. Simply brilliant.
Vegas already has too many contracts that are aging poorly, Marner would help them but that window isn’t going to be open that much longer, it looked very apparent this past playoffs
Their D may be a problem without Hague but Vegas had the 7th worst PK in the league last season and Marner will help there considerably (and defensively at even strength too). If Vegas has to include Roy and Hague in the deal they should do it without thinking twice.
Marner will keep more cash since Nevada has no State Income Tax,smart move financially by #16.
Vegas gets the big fish and Toronto gets some useful pieces in the process. I don’t know how much more depth Vegas can give up and still be a legitimate contender though.
exactly, and with those aging expensive contracts their window wont be open for a couple seasons tops, given they trade every half decent prospect too theirs definitely no bargain players or good effective ELCs coming in
If it happens, Marner leaves behind an environmentally toxic culture to an organization that prioritizes winning. Good for him. He’s undeservedly been the scapegoat in Toronto for at least two seasons.
His playoff numbers indicate he deserves some of the blame he gets. Sure, not all, but certainly some.
Marner shouldn’t flush the toilet when he leaves!
For the Leafs, wouldn’t another left-side D in Hague be kind of an awkward fit? They just extended McCabe. Rielly has a NMC. EOL is a lefty playing on his wrong side. And I thought Benoit really emerged as a quality defender in the playoffs. I guess maybe Toronto flips Hague to another team?
Power of the dark side
Seems like, in the long run, Marner would be better off going to a team on the rise. Vegas is an aging team barely holding on at this point. Look how easily Edmonton brushed them off this season. And they’re trading D to get scoring??? D wins in the playoffs.
Vegas = Greed
Biz says Vegas is being investigated for tampering concerning Marner, might explain the sudden interest in a sign and trade, if that’s true. Also Biz says Marchand has a deal in place with Toronto and yes the NHL is investigating that too.
150 guys signing contracts immediately on Canada Day, NHL oughta investigate them all lol
Vegas sounds desperate to make this deal happen. Toronto should hold out for more. Roy, Hague, plus.
Dorofeyev has to be the guy coming back Roy is good but not a potential 40 goal scorer..
Why would they give up a positive asset when they can just get him for nothing but dollars in a couple of days. Right now they’re trying to get the extra year and make it easier to get cap compliant.
Stoner was just a ppg player that brings a physical edge. Have you seen Charlie coyle, evander kane, Andrew burakovski, Chris kreider all bring back positive assets? Petrangelo is a number 1 rd. Noah Dobson just got 9.5. the market is different now. These contracts are 100 percent fine.
I wish Detroit would go after Marner.