Former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner opened up about what led to his decision to reject being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes at the trade deadline.
He spoke with NHL.com’s Derek Van Diest on Thursday and said that it boiled down to doing what was in the best interest of his family.
“The whole Carolina thing comes up in the middle of the season. It’s a bit of an awkward one. My wife was six or seven months pregnant, we really didn’t want to be a deadline player,” he said. “I would have had to leave and go back to Toronto because my wife wasn’t coming down with me, so I was moving into Carolina myself if I did that. The logistics of it and everything, it just didn’t make sense and then from that point on, we told [the Maple Leafs] we were committed to [Toronto] and we were going to play it all out.”
Reports emerged around the trade deadline that the Leafs were among the teams that were seriously interested in acquiring Mikko Rantanen. The reason a player of his calibre was available was because he was unwilling to commit to extending with the Hurricanes and the team was looking to get something back instead of being left with nothing. During those discussions about Rantanen, Carolina asked the Leafs about acquiring Marner as part of the return package. As he stated in the quote above, the logistics of undertaking such a move during a time when his wife was expecting made it a tough sell.
It is worth mentioning that there were brief disucssions of a three-team deal that involved the Vegas Golden Knights. Had it come to fruition, Marner would have ended up in Vegas, Rantanen goes to Toronto, while Carolina would have gotten a bunch of picks and players. The reason it ultimately fell through was because the Golden Knights and Hurricanes couldn’t agree on the assets involved in a potential trade. When those proposals failed the Leafs tried another package that included Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten, but the Hurricanes turned it down and Rantanen ended up going to the Stars.
“I wasn’t focused on it. I had a feeling that maybe something might happen,” Marner said to reporters on March 8. “But, yeah, I’m here to play hockey with this team, like I said, and I’m focused with this team. And that’s what I can tell you.”
Ultimately, Marner played out the remainder of his contract and helped guide the Leafs to a Atlantic Division title as well as Game 7 of the second round against the Florida Panthers. He was then dealt to the Golden Knights in a sign-and-trade that sent Nicolas Roy the other way.
While he was disappointed that he was not able to help lead his hometown team to hockey glory, Marner expressed gratitdude for his time as a Leaf.
“Bittersweet. For all the negative comments out there, you know there are so many love comments,” he said to TSN’s Mark Masters. “The problem is that the love comments don’t come out as much as the hatred ones, and that’s the way life goes and the way social media has turned into in a way. I’m forever grateful to be a Maple Leaf and wear that crest on my chest for nine years.”