Insider Reveals New Frontrunner in Mitch Marner Sweepstakes (Hint: Not Vegas)

As pending unrestricted free agent Mitch Marner gets set to presumably leave the Toronto Maple Leafs and take his talents to the open market on July 1st, the hockey world is speculating as to where he'll be heading. And while the Vegas Golden Knights seem to be atop most observers' lists, insider David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, in speaking on Daily Faceoff's The Sheet with Jeff Marek, has projected a new frontrunner:

I'd put L.A. (Kings) ahead of the pack. I believe the Kings are one of the teams... that's probably propped a little bit higher on Mitch's list. I think he's got an internal list of teams that he would consider... I think L.A. is absolutely a team and a market that he is interested in exploring, and I think the Kings are gonna be fairly aggressive in pursuit of him.

The Kings had a terrific regular season, finishing in 2nd place in the Pacific Division with 105 points, their best mark in 50 years. But they once again ran up against the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the playoffs, and for the 4th straight year were eliminated by Connor McDavid & Co.

LA Kings will have plenty of cap room to make an 'aggressive' run at Marner

L.A. will have almost $22 million in cap space this summer, and New GM Ken Holland promises to use it to improve his team. That's plenty of room to make a pretty substantial offer to Marner, who's expected to command in the neighborhood of $14 million annually on a seven-year deal on the open market.

James Mirtle in The Athletic also calls the Kings one of the four 'most likely fits' for Marner. "Marner feels like a perfect fit on a team that has such a strong defensive approach, and he knows coach Jim Hiller well from their time in Toronto," writes Mirtle.

For what it's worth, FanDuel doesn't seem to agree with Pagnotta or Mirtle, after releasing their latest prop bets. They've got the Kings behind five other teams in the betting odds to land Marner, at +850. They've got the Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs as the co-favorites, at +430. Carolina, Vegas and Anaheim also have better odds than L.A., per FanDuel.