New Intel Reveals 3-Team Blockbuster Nearly Sent Marner to Vegas at Trade Deadline

Mitch Marner nearly headed to the Vegas Golden Knights at the trade deadline

There were no trades made last week at the NHL Draft Combine, but there was certainly a lot of buzz generated about trades that could happen—and in one case, just revealed, a wild blockbuster that nearly took place at the trade deadline.

Toronto, Carolina, and Vegas almost had a three-way deal in place that would've sent Mitch Marner to Vegas and Mikko Rantanen to Toronto, per @mirtle.

The deal reportedly fell through because Carolina and Vegas "failed to find the right assets" to complete it. pic.twitter.com/dBrFLOl9mP
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 9, 2025

According to James Mirtle in The Athletic, the three-team deal would have sent top pending UFA Mitch Marner to the Vegas Golden Knights from Toronto, and formerly top pending UFA (at the time) Mikko Rantanen to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Vegas would have sent some assets to Carolina.

Why did the Marner to Vegas deal not go through at the trade deadline?

"It’s unclear just how far those talks went, or if Marner was asked to waive his no-movement clause to go to Vegas, but it sounds like what killed the deal was Vegas and Carolina failing to find the right assets to include to get it done — not anything on the Toronto side," wrote Siegel.

We had heard back around the time of the deadline that Marner was asked to waive his no-move clause to go to Carolina in exchange for Rantanen, and it's not clear whether that was a separate idea after the three-teamer fell through, or whether it was all part of the same talks.

What we do know, is that Marner refused to waive his NMC, saying at the time that he wanted to remain a Maple Leaf. Now, three months later, it seems that his days as a Leaf are numbered... Like, about three weeks' worth of days, until July 1st hits, and free agency takes effect.

After those trade deadline machinations, of course, the Canes wound up trading Rantanen to the Dallas Stars for Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks and two third-rounders, and Rantanen bypassed potential free agency, signing an 8-year, $12 million AAV deal with Dallas.

As for Marner, he's still being linked to Vegas. Elliotte Friedman told us recently about trade talks that took place last summer between the Leafs and Golden Knights, and they're now one of the leading contenders to land him as a UFA—if they can make room under the cap.

We also heard a report today that Marner could become the highest-paid player in the NHL if another Western Conference team had their way.