RICK VAIVE: Mitch Marner's time with Toronto Maple Leafs likely at an end

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When I was traded to Chicago in 1987, it was hard to imagine that I had played my last game as a Maple Leaf.

I have to think that’s what is rolling around in Mitch Marner’s head before Game 6.

Hey, I think he’s a hell of a player who has averaged 90 to 100 points every year. But the bottom line, if the Leafs lose this series to Florida, is that you have to look at everything. And what myself and lot of people see is a Core Four that has been together eight or nine years and hasn’t got it done at playoff time.

It’s the old saying about the definition of insanity: Making the same mistakes over and over. Now you have Mitch coming up on a new contract and he wants his turn at the big money, around $13 million US a year. But if you’re running the Leafs, you have to think: ‘What else could we spend that money on?’

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You can get a tough right winger who would also be a good fit with Auston Matthews. Maybe you have a few million left over to add another defenceman.

Right now, Marner holds all the cards. There hasn’t been any word on contract talks and I know his agent wants to test the market.

I honestly believe that if he hits July 1 as a free agent, they should let him go.

Maybe it’s going to be best for him to get a change, even though this is home and he has tried hard to make it work. He’ll get his money and the team and the fans can look at something different.

The Leafs are now at the stage where what happens in the regular season, with all of their scoring records, doesn’t matter. It’s all about ‘what have you done for us in the playoffs?’ I’m not talking just about 58 years without a Stanley Cup, but 21 years with just two series wins.

Marner leaving could be just one of many changes we’ll see. The difficult part is that Kyle Dubas handed out all of those big deals with no-movement clauses when he was GM. Think of Marner stopping the trade for Mikko Rantanen from Carolina, a big winger who is a proven scorer in the playoffs.

I would never give out those kinds of no-movement deals. At most, let the player give me a list of 10 teams he doesn’t want to be traded to. That still gives me 21 to work with. You just can’t tie a GM’s hands as they are now in Toronto.

I’m still hoping for the best result in Florida on Friday. The Leafs have to be a hell of a lot better than Game 5, which was pretty pathetic and disturbing. A game that important and there were a lot of no-shows.

They were out-hit again, which is Florida’s M.O. They come at you heavy and Toronto’s defencemen will once again feel that as the Cats look to close them out.

The Leafs were below 50% on faceoffs for the first time in a while in the post-season and then came the giveaways, 21 of them, including blind stuff up the middle.

It’s going to be very difficult, but not impossible, to win down there.

At the very least, you want to go down fighting.

The Toronto Sun welcomes former Leafs captain and three-time 50-goal scorer Rick Vaive to our 2025 playoff coverage. He played 16 NHL and WHA seasons and is the author of Catch 22: My Battles in Hockey and Life. He can be heard on Squid and The Ultimate Leafs Fan podcast with Mike Wilson and special guests.