Elliotte Friedman on how Matthews' contract will drive up Marner's asking price
Immediately following yesterday's momentous signing, fans and media of the Toronto Maple Leafs have already turned their attention to another area of concern - both Mitch Marner and William Nylander's upcoming contract extensions.
Leafs fans will remember that Mitch Marner's camp publicly compared the value between himself and Matthews during his first contract negotiation, and ultimately decided that he thought he deserved to be paid comparably to Matthews.
Now signing a short term deal for a league record $13.25M, Elliotte Friedman is now speculating that this will raise the price of Mitch Marner's upcoming contract. His quote seems to be tongue-in-cheek, but the sentiment of their previous comparisons is valid.
What is Marner's next number? Because he was the closest one to Matthews. When Matthews signed for 11.634 AAV all the sudden Marner became close to an $11M player, so now Matthews' number is 13.25, what's Marner's number? Is it 13.249999?
Regardless, before Mitch Marner, the Leafs will need to negotiate with their other young star UFA, William Nylander this offseason. Really, the question will be can - and should - the Leafs keep together their entire star forward core.
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