The Maple Leafs May Have Made an Enormous Mistake With Mitch Marner

Heavily involved the deadline sweepstakes for Rantanen, the Leafs were reportedly trying to land a backup plan due to their frustrations with how contract negotiations have gone with the 27-year-old.

At the time, many believed that the Leafs not including Matthew Knies in any deal is what caused it to fall through. That was until Elliotte Friedman revealed in a in a shocking post Saturday that the Hurricanes initially asked for Marner and the deal fell through because he refused to waive his no-movement clause.

The pending unrestricted free agent confirmed such during his post-game media availability following Saturday's loss to the Colorado Avalanche.

It's one thing to ask a star player to waive their no-movement clause, but it is an entirely different thing for that information to be leaked to the public.

With it being leaked, it has cast a massive cloud over Marner's future with the Leafs while simultaneously giving Marner all of the leverage in any future negotiations.

TSN's Chris Johnston noted that Marner has no issue going to free agency, especially with Rantanen off the market, and pumping offers from other teams to force the Leafs to pay a premium to retain his services.

Leafs GM Brad Treliving is not afraid to make franchise altering moves if called for, but he may find it more difficult to do so now that word has gotten out about his conversation with the former first-round pick.

Not only has Treliving's job gotten harder, but so has the jobs of all of Marner's teammates as they now have to find a way to prevent his uncertain future from distracting them as the regular season closes out and playoffs begin.

Toronto is a media circus at the best of times, but over the next few months it may turn into Cirque Du Soleil as fans and reporters hang on every performance and word of Marner's until he ultimately makes a decision.