Maple Leafs Rumors: Some In Organization "Scared" To Trade Marner

It's safe to say that we're still in the very early stages of the Mitch Marner saga. The Toronto Maple Leafs have a huge decision on how to move forward with their star playmaker who is going into the final year of his contract.

With a new hard-nosed coach in tow now in Craig Berube, perhaps he can be the one to take Marner to new levels in the playoffs that he hasn't been able to reach. At least, that seems to be the concern in some quarters of the Leafs organization as they consider Marner's future. In fact, according to hockey insider Elliotte Friedman on his 32 Thoughts podcast Monday, some around the team are "scared" to give up on Mitch.

One of the things that a few people have told me is not to be surprised if this plays out over the course of the next season with Marner in Toronto. This is such a delicate situation between player and team, because everyone is determined to look like a winner here.

And what really makes this frightening from the club's perspective, he reveals, is that there are some in the Leafs organization that are still stinging from the way the Nazem Kadri situation played out a few years ago: They let him go "when they were mad at him" after he took inadvisable suspensions in the playoffs for two straight years and hurt the team's chances to advance. But they then watched him pull himself together in Colorado and be a major driver in helping the Avalanche win a Stanley Cup.

I think there are people in the organization that are looking at this and think 'Could this be Kadri 2.0' where Marner goes somewhere else... and becomes a key player on a Stanley Cup team in another city—which I do believe could happen.
I think there are people in the organization who are very scared of that happening.

It should also be reiterated, of course, that Marner is really the one holding all the cards, as he has a full no-movement clause, and simply doesn't have to go anywhere if he doesn't want, and just head into free agency next summer.

Lots to parse through here over the next couple of months.