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Mitch Marner

Snapshots: Stuetzle, Thornton, Duclair, Spurgeon

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The Ottawa Senators have already been in camp for several days already, but the team will get another big name player into camp soon as 2020 first-round pick Tim Stuetzle arrived in Ottawa Saturday night. The 18-year-old is coming off an impressive performance at the World Junior Championship after he led Team Germany to one of the countries best finishes ever. After a seven-day quarantine, he will join his team and is likely to start his NHL career, according to the Ottawa Citizen’s Bruce Garrioch.

“I hope I’m going to play in the NHL this season, that’s 100% my goal and I will work very hard for that,” Stuetzle told reporters in Edmonton following Germany’s elimination in the quarterfinals.

Stuetzle finished the World Juniors with five goals and 10 points in five games. The third-overall pick, who signed his entry-level deal last week, is likely going to play wing for the Senators this season.

Four More Players Voted In To All-Star Game

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The vote is in as four more players were added to the NHL All-Star Game as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mitch Marner, Washington Capitals’ T.J. Oshie, St. Louis Blues’ David Perron and Vancouver Canucks’ Quinn Hughes were voted in by fans as the Last Men In.

For Marner, it will be the forward’s first all-star appearance despite posting a 94-point performance in the 2018-19 season. However, Marner remains on a similar pace and has impressive numbers once again. He currently has 11 goals and 42 points in just 34 games this season, putting him at a 100-goal pace had he not missed several weeks with a high ankle sprain. He joins Auston Matthews and Frederik Andersen as a third member of the team on the Atlantic Division roster.

Oshie will also be attending the all-star game for the first time in his career. The 33-year-old has had a solid career, but gets voted in as he has 18 goals through the first 45 games of the season and looks to be heading for a 30-goal pace. He will join defenseman John Carlsson and goaltender Braden Holtby. Alex Ovechkin was also supposed to go, but has opted to skip it for a second straight year. Head coach Todd Reirden is also going as coach of the Metro Division.

Perron is another addition for Stanley Cup champions, who will be the hosts of the all-star game, and gives the team four players on the Central Division squad. The 31-year-old looks to be heading for one of the best seasons of his career as he already has 19 goals through 45 games, including four overtime goals so far this year. Perron will be joined by forwards Ryan O’Reilly, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and goaltender Jordan Binnington.

Finally, a defenseman was added in the Pacific Division, a much needed position for that squad, which had just Mark Giordano on the roster until the fan vote. Hughes has been a revelation for Vancouver and while fellow rookie Cale Makar gets most of the headlines, Hughes has posted four goals and 30 points in 43 games and is averaging 21:22 of ATOI in his first full season. He will join forward Elias Petersson and goaltender Jacob Markstrom as the Canucks’ representatives.

Mitch Marner Activated From Injured Reserve

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have officially activated Mitch Marner from long-term injured reserve, sending Martin Marincin and Nic Petan to the minor leagues in the process. Marner has been out for several weeks with a high-ankle sprain but is expected to be back in the lineup tonight against the Colorado Avalanche. The team has also activated Mason Marchment from season-opening injured reserve and sent him to the AHL.

Marner has yet to play a game for new head coach Sheldon Keefe, but he’ll get the chance to try out the Maple Leafs’ new puck possession system tonight as the team tries to right the ship. Coming off a 6-1 pounding at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto now sits 13-12-4 on the season and in a very precarious position.

Because of the huge cap number that the young forward brings, Trevor Moore has likely been moved to long-term injured reserve to clear a bit more and keep the Maple Leafs at 21 players for the time being. When he returns, the team will have to send another forward down to the minor leagues or make a trade of some sort.

Even with that kind of cap pressure, Marner’s return will be a huge boost to the group. After scoring 94 points last season to lead the club, he was off to another strong start with 18 in his first 18 games. While he’ll be back beside John Tavares tonight, it appears as though Ilya Mikheyev has taken the place of Zach Hyman on the left side despite that trio’s strong work last season.

Toronto Notes: Hyman, Marner, Goaltending

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to get Zach Hyman back in the lineup tomorrow night against the New York Islanders, a welcome sight for a team struggling to find their identity this season. While the Maple Leafs have scored 64 goals this season, good for third in the NHL, they’ve also allowed 62. Hyman will bring an aspect of forechecking that has been sorely missing, while also giving them another prime penalty killing option. The 27-year old forward is coming off major knee surgery however, and may take some time getting up to speed. He scored 21 goals and 41 points last season but has yet to play in 2019-20.

More notes regarding the Maple Leafs:

  • Hyman will start on a line with John Tavares and Kasperi Kapanen, thanks to the absence of Mitch Marner from the team for at least a month. Marner confirmed to reporters including Joshua Clipperton of the Canadian Press that he suffered a high-ankle sprain in Saturday’s game. The team had previously announced that he will be re-evaluated in four weeks, but high-ankle sprains are notorious for causing lingering issues for professional athletes.
  • Meanwhile, the team is also trying to figure out their backup goaltending situation after waiving Michael Hutchinson yesterday. Head coach Mike Babcock explained to reporters including Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun that the team didn’t play well enough ahead of Hutchinson, but that the plan to start the backup in the second half of back-to-back situations will continue. That would suggest that Kasimir Kaskisuo will make his NHL debut this Sunday against the Pittsburgh Penguins, unless the team finds a different option before then.

Toronto’s Mitch Marner To Miss At Least One Month

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8:10 PM — The team announced via Twitter that Marner will miss a minimum of a month due to the ankle injury.  He will be re-evaluated by the team at that time.  That will make him eligible for placement on LTIR as he’ll miss at least 10 games or 24 days.

3:55 PM — The Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan reports that Marner underwent an MRI today on his right ankle, but Babcock had no other updates on his injury. “I texted him a bunch of times today. He said it was a little stiff,” said Babcock.

2:10 PM — Injuries have surrounded the Toronto Maple Leafs all season, but the team has another key injury to contend with after winger Mitch Marner went down awkwardly in the second period while getting tangled up with Philadelphia’s Carsen Twarynski and had trouble getting up. While little was known about Marner immediately after the game, head coach Mike Babcock announced that Marner would miss Sunday’s game in Chicago, the first game missed since his rookie year, according to The Athletic’s Sean Fitz-Gerald (subscription required).

“What are you going to do? It’s hockey; injuries happen and you find out more about other guys,” Babcock said. “I don’t know the extent of this. I don’t know if it’s a few days or weeks or whatever. There’s no sense in dwelling on it.”

The replay (video here) showed that Twarynski stick got stuck in between Marner’s legs and then got caught underneath his left skate, sending the 22-year-old sprawling to the ice. It appears that Marner’s weight falls on his twisted right knee and ankle. While there is no word on the severity of the injury and how long Marner could miss, the loss definitely wouldn’t help a team that is trying to gain some consistency. They are 5-2-3 in their last 10 games, but losing Marner is not likely to help. It’s possible, if the injury requires a couple of weeks, that the team could place Marner on injured reserve, which could free up the cap room to activate Hyman and keep some of their depth without shaking up the entire team.

The hope was the Maple Leafs might be fully healthy and active shortly with the expected return of forward Zach Hyman, who has been out since offseason knee surgery. The team recently got back John Tavares, who was out with a fractured finger, and Travis Dermott, who underwent offseason shoulder surgery.

More On Mitch Marner’s Negotiation

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Mitch Marner is back at the Toronto Maple Leafs training camp after signing a six-year deal worth more than $65MM last week. The young forward was one of the biggest stories of the offseason as his representatives and the team went back and forth on term and salary, threatening to miss time like his teammate William Nylander last year. This morning, Marner’s agent Darren Ferris told Sportsnet radio that two offer sheets were presented to his client during the offseason but that they never considered accepting them, instead wanting to get a deal done with the Maple Leafs. Marner himself confirmed it, explaining his decision to Kristen Shilton of TSN:

As soon as Darren mentioned [offer sheets], I told him right away I don’t want to explore that option. But I didn’t want to miss training camp…or any games this season, so that’s why I really forced the issue with Kyle [Dubas] to get something done and get me here.

While Marner may have immediately turned down the offer sheets, it does raise some questions about which teams tried them and how much they were willing to pay. Former NHL forward Matthew Barnaby believes they were from the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild, though Marner and Ferris obviously wouldn’t confirm. If they had been equivalent to the deal that Marner eventually got from the Maple Leafs, the teams would have had to give up the maximum RFA compensation of four first-round picks. That’s a tough price for any team to pay, and one that would have forced the Maple Leafs to at least consider the option.

Now though, Toronto can focus on their upcoming preseason schedule with the whole group signed and in training camp. Marner, Auston Matthews and John Tavares now make up three of the seven highest-paid forwards in the league and will need to prove they can have more than just regular season success. With players like Jake Muzzin and Tyson Barrie coming off the books or demanding raises next summer as unrestricted free agents, this season may be one of the team’s only shots with the current group.

Reactions To Mitch Marner Signing

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It’s been nearly 48 hours since the Toronto Maple Leafs signed winger Mitch Marner to a six-year, $65.36MM deal, giving the team three players who will take up $33.52MM in cap space for the next six years, a significant amount for just three players. Regardless, stories about Marner’s new deal has been flooding the internet since Marner’s signing on Friday. Here are some reactions from around the NHL:

  • It was expected that Marner’s signing would start a chain reaction of RFA signings with Brayden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning likely to be the first domino to fall. However, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported that both sides were far apart in negotiations with the most recent offer weighing in at three years and $5.7MM. Considering the cap situation surrounding the Lightning, working out a deal that makes both sides happy could be quite the challenge.
  • The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required) points out that the Marner signing will likely have little to no effect on the Point signing. While the market seems to have opened up for RFA’s like Marner, the Lightning have made it clear they are sticking to their organizational philosophy of signing their RFAs to bridge deals before eventually offering them long-term deals. That’s how they have done it with Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
  • Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun writes that Kyle Dubas is finally done with signing all his big-name free agents over the last couple of years, but notes that it took a toll on the young GM, who admits that he made a few mistakes. Dubas admits he should have locked all three restricted free agents (Marner, Auston Matthews and William Nylander) at once last year rather than allowing the negotiations go down to the wire. “You learn about the process, of things you do differently for the next time,” Dubas said. “With William, I wish we’d have been on it earlier, with Auston’s case, we had the information and we were projecting headward to go with him. In the end, I’m happy we’re able to deliver all three and bring John in as well.”
  • The Toronto Sun’s Kevin McGran writes that Marner and the Maple Leafs have been miles apart for months, but it was Marner who blinked first this time. It had been made quite clear that Marner wanted two things out of the negotiations, which included remaining a Maple Leaf as well as he didn’t want to miss any games. However, after Marner budged, so did Toronto. “We had a sit-down on Thursday for quite a while,” said Dubas. “It was great for Mitch to tell me how he felt, and me to explain where we were at and what we were proposing and so on. About how he fit into the team, how the team was going to move forward and everything of that nature. It was a real positive in the process.”
  • The Athletic’s James Mirtle (subscription required) writes that the Maple Leafs signing of Marner puts even more pressure on Toronto’s young core. The core of Matthews, Marner and Nylander will have to now start winning and not just finally a first-round victory in the playoffs. The expectations are even higher with most fans now expecting a Stanley Cup win in the near future. Unfortunately with all the money thrown at those three (along with John Tavares), the Maple Leafs aren’t likely going to be able to bring in extra help at the trade deadline or the offseason and the team may lose more and more talent due to their long-term salary cap issues.
  • The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel (subscription required) writes that the Toronto Maple Leafs were in tough situation while trying to lock up all their young forwards, but now that everything is completed and signed, the team will not regret signing all of them to long-term deals. The team’s core is now set and now Dubas must be able to find the pieces to fill in over the next few years despite the fact that Toronto will be in salary cap trouble for many years to come.

Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Mitch Marner

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The Mitch Marner saga is over. The Toronto Maple Leafs have finally signed their star winger, announcing that they have signed Marner to a six-year deal that carries an AAV of $10.893MM, the seventh-highest in the league.  The deal buys out his remaining four years of restricted free agent eligibility as well as two years of UFA status.

PuckPedia reports that the breakdown of the deal is as follows:

2019-20: $700K base salary, $15.3MM signing bonus
2020-21: $700K base salary, $14.3MM signing bonus
2021-22: $750K base salary, $9.608MM signing bonus
2022-23: $750K base salary, $7.25MM signing bonus
2023-24: $750K base salary, $7.25MM signing bonus
2024-25: $750K base salary, $7.25MM signing bonus

The 22-year-old is coming off of a career season across the board after posting 26 goals and 68 assists; his 94 points ranked 11th in the league (fifth among wingers) while leading the team in scoring.  He also added two goals and two assists in the postseason.  The fourth overall pick back in 2015, Marner sits third in scoring from that draft class behind the top two picks in Connor McDavid (Edmonton) and Jack Eichel (Buffalo).

Accordingly, Marner was believed to be seeking a contract comparable to that of teammate Auston Matthews, who inked a five-year deal with a cap hit of $11.634MM last season.  He ultimately came up short of that but sets a new market benchmark for restricted free agent wingers while checking in as the second-highest-paid winger in the league behind Artemi Panarin of the Rangers.

As the top RFA in this class, many expected that other free agents were waiting to see what Marner got before working to finalize their own contract.  With that now done, it will be worth watching to see if that helps move the needle for other wingers such as Mikko Rantanen (Colorado), Matthew Tkachuk (Calgary), plus Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor (Winnipeg), among others.

With this deal, the Maple Leafs now have over $40MM tied up in four forwards between Marner, Matthews, John Tavares, and William Nylander.  The first three of those are all in the top-seven in the league in cap hit which will make them a very intriguing team to keep an eye on as they work to remain in salary cap compliance.   This type of salary structure has never really been seen so many teams will be looking to see how they’re able to work within it.

When it comes to the upcoming year, they will be making full use of LTIR this season with Nathan Horton ($5.3MM) and David Clarkson ($5.25MM) both heading on there for the entire year.  However, CapFriendly projects them as currently being more than $13MM above the Upper Limit at this time so there is likely more work that needs to be done.  Winger Zach Hyman and defenseman Travis Dermott are both expected to be injured to start the season and if they’re projected to miss at least three weeks, they can also start on LTIR which would allow Toronto to get under to start the year although they would need to make some moves when those players are ready to return.

Regardless of the salary cap implications, GM Kyle Dubas has to be pleased that he was able to get Marner signed before the season gets underway.  In doing so, he avoids the risk of talks running well into the season as they did with Nylander a year ago.  Had that happened, Marner’s AAV for this season would have been higher than $10.893MM which likely provided another impetus to get something done before the puck drops on the start of the season on October 2nd.  With his deal now complete, it will be interesting to see how quickly the other dominoes around the league will fall.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report a deal had been agreed upon while TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report the cap hit.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Early Notes: Marner, CBA, Chiarelli

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The Mitch Marner summer saga has now continued partway through September and doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. Darren Dreger and Bob McKenzie of TSN both took to Twitter to explain the situation this morning, with the latter confirming that the team made seven and eight year offers in the “$11MM AAV universe” but Marner’s camp refused them because of a comparison to Auston Matthews. Matthews of course signed for five years at an $11.634MM cap hit during the season.

The player’s camp is focused on a three-year deal with a high salary in the third season, a contract blueprint made popular by Timo Meier earlier this summer. The high salary in the third year guarantees a big qualifying offer that can take the player right into unrestricted free agency if they so choose. With the Maple Leafs opening camp this week, it certainly seems like Marner will not be there to take part in the early sessions.

  • Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic notes that the NHL and NHLPA are meeting for the third consecutive day as they continue to try and work out what will happen with the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The players have until Sunday to decide whether they want to exercise their clause to reopen the CBA for negotiation, which would effectively opt-out of the agreement after the 2019-20 season. If not, the deal would run until September 2022, giving the two sides plenty of time to work out an extension or new agreement.
  • Peter Chiarelli hasn’t landed a new GM job, but will be working in a front office this season. Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports that the former Edmonton Oilers executive will serve as a consultant for the St. Louis Blues. Chiarelli has worked as a GM for both Edmonton and the Boston Bruins, where he won a Stanley Cup in 2011.

Snapshots: RFA Market, Schuldt, Pominville

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The restricted free agent market still hasn’t budged much since the beginning of the offseason, but that means Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic hasn’t missed much during his vacation. The insider returned today with a look at several of the biggest names (subscription required) still without contracts and explained that in many situations term is the big sticking point. In particular, LeBrun spoke with Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas who maintains that even though the team hasn’t been able to get a deal done with Mitch Marner, the idea of a trade is still almost unthinkable.

That’s the same sentiment that Dubas gave Bob McKenzie of TSN in their interview, explaining that Marner is still a huge part of the Maple Leafs program and they want him in a Toronto sweater for as long as possible. That’s the same company line that almost every GM has uttered over the last two months, but names like Marner, Mikko Rantanen, Matthew Tkachuk and Brayden Point are now just a few days away from missing the start of training camp.

  • One name not mentioned in LeBrun’s piece is Jimmy Schuldt, who continues to negotiate with the Vegas Golden Knights after signing and burning his one-year entry-level deal last season. Schuldt played one game down the stretch for the Golden Knights after finishing his four-year career at St. Cloud State and was expected to challenge for a full-time spot on the Vegas blueline this season. Jesse Granger of The Athletic tweets that nothing has changed in the negotiations of late and that the Vegas front office “believes it can wait Schuldt out to sign him for as cheap as possible.” The Golden Knights have very little cap space remaining even after trading away players like Erik Haula, Colin Miller and Nikita Gusev, obviously leaving them without much flexibility when it comes to Schuldt’s deal.
  • Even with all the focus on the RFA market there is still some talent left among the unrestricted free agent names. One of those is Jason Pominville, who according to Eric Engels of Sportsnet has at least had preliminary conversations with the Montreal Canadiens. The 36-year old has likely had some talks with several teams after registering 31 points in 73 games last season for the Buffalo Sabres. Pominville may not be the 70-80 point player he once was, but he can still contribute enough that he should find a landing spot somewhere before the season begins.

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