Additionally, Dreger noted that the Leafs had not made any decision as to the future of Marner, but had discussed options internally. Today, we learned that the lack of contract extension talks may be due to the fact the Leafs are attempting to trade the 27-year-old.
Throughout the off-season so far, Marner has said that he wants to stay in Toronto and the Leafs have made no indication that they are trying to trade him, but they do have to make a decision sooner than later as it will affect their ability to hand out long-term deals to free agents and Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi between now and the first few days of free agency, as these players will likely not want this ordeal to drag on past a certain point.
