Insider Drops Shocking Info On Mitch Marner Drama With Maple Leafs

While nearly everyone around the National Hockey League is wondering how, when and where the Toronto Maple Leafs will be able to trade Mitch Marner, insider Darren Dreger dropped a shocking bit of info on TSN Radio on Monday morning.

Marner, the 90+ point playmaker, is entering the last year of his contract at $10.9 million, and plans to play it out this coming season, preferring to stay in Toronto, his hometown. Everyone assumes that the Leafs are looking to go in a new direction, and break up the so-called 'Core Four' of Marner, Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares.

Not so fast, says Dreger:

I think (GM Brad) Treliving would rather extend than trade (Marner).

"I think Treliving would rather extend than trade" @DarrenDreger joined us this morning on #FirstUp and dropped a bombshell on the future of Mitch Marner! 👀

Listen to Dreger's full interview HERE: https://t.co/v8njLGMaNf pic.twitter.com/C97X1Ofwwt
— First Up (@FirstUp1050) June 17, 2024

"Are we so sure that Toronto doesn't want to extend Mitch?" asks Dreger. "I'm not. I think Treliving would rather extend than trade."

Dreger does add that if a potential trade scenario does emerge with another team that Treliving finds positive for the Leafs, he could still take it to Marner and see if he'd be agreeable to going, but "I believe, based on people I've talked to, as we're having this conversation, Marner's preference is to play out his contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs."

That doesn't mean, says Dreger, that the 27-year-old has any intention of walking out the door as a free agent. But as for any extension discussions, those are not being had at this point either.

This is one hockey story that will just keep on giving, all summer long.