SNAPSHOTS: There's a history of top-scoring Maple Leafs leaving early

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Unless Mitch Marner has a dramatic change of heart in the next 10 days, the Maple Leafs will own a dubious Original Six NHL record.

Marner, set to walk as a free agent July 1, would be the fifth of five franchise leading point producers in Toronto to finish their careers with another team. At least one and as many as four members atop the list of Montreal, Boston, Detroit, Chicago and the New York Rangers all stayed through their retirement.

Not here, where Marner, with 741 points, will likely join Mats Sundin (987), Darryl Sittler (916), Dave Keon (858) and the late Borje Salming (768) as agreeing to trades or leaving as UFAs.

For all but Sundin, the grounds for divorce was owner Harold Ballard’s ruinous reign in the 1970s and 1980s, short-changing the future Hall of Famers on contracts or in Salming’s case, giving no hope of winning a Stanley Cup. Sundin refused a trade in belief the 2007-08 Leafs would make the playoffs, but eventually departed the next season for no return, signing with Vancouver.

Marner, currently 14 points ahead of Auston Matthews on the franchise list, has not commented since the Leafs’ ninth straight early playoff elimination, in which the nimble right winger began hinting in the past tense about his hometown future.

There’s growing evidence of his frustration at being scapegoated for playoff woes despite great regular season numbers. General manager Brad Treliving has stated the Leafs DNA must change to emulate Florida’s post-season success and the quick fix is channeling Marner’s long-term contract dollars into multiple players on the market or via trades.

TAXING TIMES

John Tavares’s dispute with the Canada Revenue Agency might not be through as quickly as indicated earlier this week.

While an adjournment is in effect after the Tax Court wanted the CRA to disclose key internal records, a spokesperson for the government department e-mailed Postmedia this week to clarify the stay is not to be interpreted as a sign the matter will be dismissed.

“The court only adjourned relating to a procedural matter involving document production, not the case itself. The appeal remains active.”

At issue is $15.25 million US, the signing bonus in Tavares’s seven-year, $77 million deal with the Leafs in 2018. The CRA considers the bonus a salary, to be taxed at 50 per cent. Tavares’s camp has countered the rate should be 15 per cent, per a tax treaty with the U.S. covering income earned by non-residents when the long time New York Islander agreed to provide ‘services in Canada’.

EASTON IN BEAST MODE

After celebrating the Memorial Cup together last month, London Knights teammates Easton Cowan and Sam Dickinson, respective first round picks with Toronto and San Jose, are going to get long looks at camp.

“I’ve been lucky enough to play with him three years and he’s become a good friend,” Dickinson said of Cowan last week at the Canadian Hockey League awards when the former was named defenceman of the year. “The work ethic Easton puts in every single day, the kind of guy he is, the pro lifestyle it feels like he lives and the things he does for his body … you see it on the ice in his production (63 goals, 102 assists the past two seasons with 73 playoff points). It’s no surprise he’s become the player he is.

“I think the culture in London is the strongest there is in the CHL. Everybody buys into it. One of the main points is winning and succeeding, and that’s instilled in every guy who comes through London’s dressing room.

“It starts with (manager/coaches) Dale and Mark Hunter on Day One. They want to win and want you to succeed in hockey.”

KYLE WELL READ

As a Leaf, Kyle Wellwood was noteworthy for preferring not to own a TV set.

But he clearly put that non-screen time to creative use. Now 42, Wellwood has penned an adult fiction novel, Edgar and the Boreal Crown, about an ex-player raising his teenage daughter, a player in Vancouver (one of his NHL stops after Toronto). The father drives a health food truck and coaches girls’ hockey.

The self-published project (available via Amazon) was reviewed by Greg Oliver of the Society for International Hockey Research, who noted “Wellwood’s novel is deeper than we usually expect from athletes, delving into all kinds of subjects that aren’t expected, like trans rights, politics, religion, racism. In other words, not your normal locker room banter.”

The Windsor-born Wellwood told Oliver that the fictional title character Edgar Reid is not a reflection of himself, but parts taken from everyone encountered on his own journey in hockey.

“I try to have a lead character that navigates how hockey culture sort of operates, where they never really dig very deep into the issues. Even though they’re all around the lead character, he sort of pushes away once you try to get deeper into a conversation that would force him to go there, with normal social issues that become paramount in society.

“I just wanted to try writing a novel so I chose a subject that I had enough experience in that part of the story at least would seem authentic to a reader. It’s kind of like dipping my toe in and making sure at least there’s part of the experience in the book that I would have insight on.”

In real life, Wellwood’s oldest daughter is finishing Grade 8, and his youngest is in kindergarten. As a stay-at-home dad, he spent the past school year pecking away at the book.

Lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby