Sunday NHL Rumor Roundup – July 14, 2024
Are the Leafs any closer to trading or re-signing Mitch Marner? Does the Blues signing Ryan Suter mean they’re trading a defenseman? Find out in the Sunday NHL Rumor Roundup.
TORONTO SUN: Terry Koshan recently noted there’s little indication that the Maple Leafs will trade Mitch Marner. The ongoing line from Marner’s camp is the 27-year-old winger will be in training camp with his fellow Leafs as he enters the final season of his contract.
Koshan also pointed out this situation remains delicate. Leafs general manager Brad Treliving has said little publicly about re-signing Marner. A year ago, however, he stated that re-signing Auston Matthews and William Nylander was at the top of his “to-do” list.

Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner (NHL Images).
Marner’s camp also stated that he wouldn’t field any Leafs-related questions as he spoke about his charity and its annual summer events. “That edict wasn’t issued before Marner charity events in the past,” observed Koshan.
Koshan also noted that Treliving’s hands are tied because of Marner’s no-movement clause. The same also applies to Leafs captain John Tavares.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Trading Marner seemed likely in May following yet another early playoff exit by the Leafs. The Toronto media believed management couldn’t risk losing the winger to free agency next summer if he didn’t fit into their plans beyond this season. Some observers believed Treliving would talk Marner into waiving his NMC.
We now know that’s not going to happen so instead, we’re now getting speculation whether Treliving and Marner are talking about a contract extension. Treliving declined to address it during his press conference announcing his free-agent signings on July 1, but that topic will likely resurface this summer.
THE ATHLETIC: Jeremy Rutherford wonders if the St. Louis Blues will make a trade to alleviate their blueline logjam following their recent signing of Ryan Suter.
The Blues currently have six left-shot defensemen: Suter, Nick Leddy, Torey Krug, Scott Perunovich, Tyler Tucker, and Pierre-Olivier Joseph. General manager Doug Armstrong has suggested a trade is a possibility.
Krug is often mentioned as a trade candidate following the Blues’ failed attempt to trade him to the Philadelphia Flyers last summer. He still has a full no-trade clause until July 2025 and a source close to Krug told Rutherford the rearguard isn’t willing to waive it.
Rutherford speculated the Blues could put Krug on waivers but there’s no guarantee a team will claim him.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Armstrong didn’t sign Suter to trade him so someone else must go. Rutherford pointed out that demoting Tucker and Joseph would leave the Blues with eight defensemen, which means they could only carry 13 forwards.
Leddy also has a full no-trade clause. Perunovich, 25, is a year away from RFA status with arbitration rights and carries a $1.15 million cap hit this season. He could become the odd man out.
It’ll be interesting to see how Armstrong handles this situation. That move might not come until training camp or preseason in September.
With the changes in Leafland , they should definitely advance past the first round
Toronto has 2 of Florida players , another off to Seattle
Are Leafs ready to upset Florida , likely not
Never say Never, as Treliving’s mission most likely is not complete
Next years free agency frenzy might make a drastic change with 2 expiring high end contracts
Ken you have to beat Boston first! You haven t been to successful doing that!
@Sr
Leafs now have Boston’s previous recipe with a
A true number 1
1A goalie tandem
Larson will be a nice edition to the power play
Tanev is really going to help settle that back end
I agree with Lyle’s comments yesterday about Tavares and his contract. Toronto, while needing help on the back end, squandered their cap space on another forward which they absolutely did not need. And Tavares has not been the leader in the playoffs that he needed to be to earn his fat contract.
This year was a prime example. With the injuries to Matthew’s and Nylander, (which were the main reasons Boston won the series), Toronto needed someone to step up in their absence. But Tavares, as he had for the past 5 years, did not provide that, and he could have earned his moneyby doing so. Again, he did not.
The difference between
Manner and Tavares is that Marner is still young enough to become a playoff performer. Tavares is not.
If Toronto or anyone else signs Tavares after this season, it should be as a third liner – he hasnot earned a top 6 role. And he should be paid as a #3C, not as a veteran top six forward, like Stamkos or Crosby.
How do you figure that Ken ? Joey woll has a career high of 25 games in a season , was 12-11-1 with a .907. With his injury history and limited sample he is far from Ullmark and swayman who are two #1s. Stolarz is a career backup who contributed nothing to the cup run and has never started 30 games . Your expecting both guys to play more than they ever have , in same year by a significant amount . Not even in the same league as an Ullmark swayman tandem .
Woll and Stolarz are a #1 & 1A?
Maybe for the Marlies.
Leafs – do they have the goaltending to get to the next round?
Treliving’s mission is to complete Dubas’s task of guiding Leafs into perpetual mediocrity!
Perhaps Pengy can convince Kyle to hold off on signing 87 and wait and make a bigger splash and sign “91” next years July 1st celebration
Leafs can take the consolation prize and sign “87”
Work your Magic Pengy !!!
Yes the Tavares signing wasn’t the smartest move by Dumbass, but it’s time to quit whining about it, been 7 years. I’ll take Tavares at 4 to 5 per anytime on my team. I’d even keep Marner at a fair price. He may not be the best playoff performer, but we still have to get there. Tre has done a good job so considering the mess he inherited. We’ll see how things play out with Berube and the changes he brings. I can see Matthews and Tavares benefiting with his style. We’ll see just how badly Marner wants to stay
I think JT will sign a Spezza like contract with the Leafs. He just made 77 sheets and needs to be on a winning team.Leaving money on the table would only solidify his leadership
Where is Pengy…..haven’t seen him on here at months
The majority of fans in Leafland celebrated the Tavaras signing as soon as it happened. I can’t remember any detractors. Now it was a mistake?
Treliving’s mission is to complete Dubas’s task of guiding Leafs into perpetual mediocrity!
Can’t recall any detractors to the Tavares signing?
That’s because you never read any of my posts.
I was against the signing of Tavares since before the ink was dry on his contract.
No GM worth their salt signs an $11 million dollar, 2nd line center when you already have Kadri at $4.5 as your 2nd line center.
That’s a savings of $6.5 million that should have been spent on the defense.
Add to that the fact that the signing also overlapped with the Marleau situation and Matthews, Marner and Nylander coming off their ELCs and needing massive new contracts.
That blunder cost the Leafs the #13 overall pick in the draft, Seth Jarvis.
Only one of the dozen or so blunders committed by Dubas during his 5 year tenure as Leafs GM.
Now Treliving is following Dubas’s lead, down the path towards perpetual mediocrity.
@Toronto St Pats, I agree. People were elated, especially since it was reported he’d taken 2M less than what SJ offered. But, human nature is to never admit fault, and complain about others to boost your own confidence.
I was happy with the signing, and we all knew the back end of the contract would be tough. We accepted that. With only one year left, I think he’s held up better than I expected.
I think fans need to chill a little on “Their just running it back again” because that core CAN’T be moved unless they want to. Tree has very little he can do, and he can’t do anything extreme in an attempt to force a trade on him because it would look very bad to all future UFAs, and burn that bridge with Marner if he finally breaks out in the playoffs this season.
“They’re running it back again” is the most over used media term since, “…because it’s the right thing to do”. People’s thoughts are being led by media as if on a leash.
Toronto St Pats, that’s the beauty of hindsight – the 100% perception of the nature of an event after it has happened.
It’s trotted out with monotony in here all the time.
I’d truly love to see an end to the sadly unending diatribe on the “mistake” and “the responsible” and instead see some rational viewpoints on how best to resolve what has become a critical cap issue.
Not that I care one way or another about the ultimate fortunes of the organization, mind you … but simply to get away from ultimately useless posts as to whether or not it was a mistake and, if the latter, who was at fault.
Who cares? That solves nothing.
Johnny – too much money and term for a guy with as much mileage as he had when he got here. He sure didn’t give a discount for the team that he so wanted to play for. Still a fan, but never for $11M a year.
I think JT will sign a Spezza like contract with the Leafs. He just made 77 sheets and needs to be on a winning team.Leaving money on the table would only solidify his leadership
Maybe we could focus on Dorion’s mistakes as GM instead of Dubas’s for a while?
Sure, why not? His gaffes are well-documented. Where do you want to start?
TSP,
Tavares was 27 when he went to Toronto, in his prime and the most sought after player at the time.
He’s been a point a game player since then and no reason for him to give a “hometown discount” as a UFA to new city.
TML got exactly what they were hoping for when they signed him.
Habsfan30,
Point a game players aren’t worth top dollar, especially ones who don’t perform in the playoffs. $11Mx7 was way over JT’s head.
He’d played alotta hockey by the time he was 27. We knew that contract would be difficult on the back end of the deal. Seems like most of the 7-8 deals end up that way.
Will he take a Spezza deal? I don’t think he will take a $775K deal, more like $3-4mil somewhere other than Toronto.
lago, he was a point a game player when they signed him and he stayed that way, no drop off.
Aho, Pettersson, Barkov, Barzal, Scheifele make top dollar and haven’t as consistently point a game players
TSP, Spezza was washed up when he signed cheap contracts, Tavares is still performing at higher than Speeza in all but 5 seasons at the level .
He’ll get a lot more than $3 million
I have relatives and friends up in NY, on Long Island and when Tavares bolted from the Islanders, it seemed every Islander fan was pissed at Tavares. In a split second he went from being a beloved NY Islander to a hated NY Islander.
Maybe it took that crazy term and salary for Tavares to turn his back on Lamarello and the Islanders Organization that was so good to him, and he for it.
Dubas made Tavares an offer he couldn’t refuse!
To say that he has been consistently productive would be putting it mildly. As for his contract, exactly why should he have left millions on the table when he signed for the 2018-19 season? He just came off a season with the Islanders where he had 37g 47A 84 pts.
Obviously he and the GM (and Shanahan) came to a mutual agreement on that deal – no one twisted any arms, any more than Marner, Matthews or Nylander held a gun to someone’s head. At the time – pre-Covid – the thinking clearly was that the cap would continue to go up annually at or above the then yearly rate, with no real ramifications of the type that unfortunately emerged with the pandemic.
In 1109 games played he has scored 456 goals and 584 assists for 82-game average of 34g 43a 77 pts.
With NYI he played 669 games with 272 goals and 349 assists for 82-games averages of 33g 43a 76 pts
With the Leafs he has has played 430 games with 184 goals and 349 assists for 82games averages of 35g 45a 80 pts
This past season, in 80 gp at 33 y/o he had 29g 36a 65 pts. A bit of a dip … but still totals that some “stars” on other teams would dearly loved to have had.
From this vantage point … and all things considered – if the Leafs are intent on clearing some cap to use elsewhere through trade this coming season, their best bet is to find a team that could use his consistency – from his vantage point preferably a contending team – and conclude a deal whereby they hold back an amount sufficient to interest (and accommodate) the other party. For a contending team, I think the man would agree as I’m sure he’s as fed up with the finger-pointing and silly accusations as are some of us in here.
Reminder George that JT has a full NMC. He’s not waiving and he’s not going anywhere.
I know that Howard … what I’m suggesting is, if a deal with a contending team cam be worked out, he might just agree to waive to get away from the incessant BS that tries to make him out as one of two villains holding the Leafs back from glory.