Insider Shares Frustrating Report on Leafs Star Mitch Marner Following Hectic Trade Deadline

The Leafs addressed their need for a third-line center in acquiring Scott Laughton before Friday's trade deadline, but in a more surprising move, they also acquired defenseman Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins in the last two minutes before the official 3:00 pm ET deadline.

Following the passing of the deadline, Nick Kypreos reported the Leafs were heavily involved in the Mikko Rantanen sweepstakes before he was dealt to the Dallas Stars.

Many suspected their involvement in the Rantanen sweepstakes was due to their internal frustrations with how negotiations are going with pending free agent Mitch Marner.

During deadline day, Chris Johnston touched on Marner's future with the Leafs given the Leafs' involvement with Rantanen, noting that Marner 'is more than willing' to test free agency on July 1st.

Marner reportedly turned down a very respectable offer from the Leafs in December and if fans learned anything from his previous negotiations, his agent, Darren Ferris, is more than happy to hold out and squeeze every dollar that he can out of the Leafs.

With Rantanen off the market for July 1st, Marner will be the most coveted free agent available and someone will inevitably commit north of $14M for the Markham, Ontario native, but it doesn't sound like it will be the Leafs.

As much as the Leafs want to keep Marner, Brad Treliving is not afraid to make seismic changes to his roster if needed, as we saw with Matthew Tkachuk in Calgary. With that being said, Marner had better think long and hard about his stance on wanting to be a Leaf for a long time and what that's worth to him before the Leafs walk away entirely and spend their money elsewhere.