'Hostility' between Mitch Marner, Leafs could see star winger leave Toronto, Bissonnette says

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After spending a large chunk of his NHL career in the penalty box, you could say that Paul Bissonnette knows a thing or two about hostility.

Now an NHL commentator, the retired enforcer says that “a little hostility” between Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs could lead to the star winger leaving Toronto this summer.

During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday, the man affectionately known as BizNasty, shared his thoughts on the Pittsburgh Penguins firing longtime coach Mike Sullivan and what the team can do this summer in an attempt to return to the playoffs.

Bissonnette pointed towards Marner, arguably the league’s biggest pending free agent, and his connection with Kyle Dubas, the former Maple Leafs GM who now runs the Penguins.

“One (upcoming top-tier free agent) that probably sticks out is Mitch Marner (who) hasn’t signed yet,” Bissonnette said. “He’s a Toronto Maple Leaf. Kyle Dubas loves Mitch Marner. He was with him in Toronto.

”There’s a little hostility between the Maple Leafs and Marner, based on the fact that they tried to trade him at the deadline for Mikko Rantanen, who was available, and they were willing to part ways with Mitch Marner, even though he had a 100-point season.”

Marner is coming off the first 100-point season of his nine-year career with the Leafs with 27 goals and 75 assists in 81 games. It’s also the fourth time in his career that he has topped 90 points.

While he has nine points in five games in the Leafs first-round Battle of Ontario series with the Ottawa Senators, Marner typically has struggled in the playoffs.

Despite that, the Markham native likely will command one of the biggest contracts in the league, with Bissonnette guessing it could be in the range of $14 million per year.

“As far as Mitch Marner is concerned, he hasn’t — just like the book is still out on Dubas as a GM, the book is still out on Mitch Marner as far as playoff performance,” Bissonnette said. “He’s had a great start to this year.

”Things get harder as you progress through the second and third rounds, but he’s a guy that’s going to command probably $14 million on the open market.”

During his tenure in Toronto, Dubas was the man who inked Marner to his current six-year, $65.41-million contract in 2019, which expires this summer.

Bissonnette’s comments came just hours after the Penguins split with Sullivan, who led the team to Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017 during his 10-year stint with the club.

Marner and the Leafs face the Ottawa Senators in Game 5 of their first-round series on Tuesday night, with Toronto up 3-1 in the series and aiming to close out the Battle of Ontario.