NHL Rumors: Maple Leafs Discussed Mitch Marner Trade With Vegas Golden Knights

The Maple Leafs & Golden Knights talked about a Mitch Marner trade last summer, per Elliotte Friedman

The rumors have been hot and heavy as it appears almost certain that Toronto Maple Leafs star forward Mitch Marner will be hitting unrestricted free agency on July 1, and teams everywhere will be lining up for the right to sign him.

And while we've heard about the potential trade to the Carolina Hurricanes that he nixed back at the deadline, we're now getting wind of another round of explosive trade talks that the Leafs had about Marner — with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Vegas has already been linked to Marner this summer.

Per insider Elliotte Friedman on his 32 Thoughts podcast on Friday, those trade talks took place last summer, going into Marner's now-expired final year of his deal.

I do believe on some level last year that the Maple Leafs and Vegas talked about a trade. And this was last summer, at some point. I think Vegas was interested in Marner; I think Toronto talked to them...

But there were two reasons that those talks didn't even "get close", says Friedman:

Number one, I think Toronto was interested in Shea Theodore. And as the Golden Knights proved, they were not interested in trading him. They wanted to keep him. As I heard, they told people, ‘You want to watch Shea Theodore? You can buy a ticket to watch him play for us.’ And they followed through on their word.

(Vegas signed their top blueliner this past October to a seven-year extension with a $7.45 million cap hit annually, that kicks in next year.) Friedman continued:

And the second thing is, I just think there was no guarantee that Marner, at that time, was going to be agreeing to anything. So while I do think the two teams talked about it and Vegas had some interest, I don’t think it was ever, ever realistic because of those two reasons.

The idea of Marner striking it rich in Vegas, however, is a lot more realistic a year later, as he'll be up for grabs on the open market as a UFA in just four weeks.

Due to the rumblings, we even had a look at how the Knights could clear the cap space to allow them to sign the 100-point man.