David Pagnotta believes Anaheim is a serious contender to land Mitch Marner

We are now just under a month away from July 1st. For most Canadians, it’s a statutory holiday to celebrate our nation with flags, flame grills, and fireworks. For hockey fans, it’s a day of anxiety of what free agents will walk, and who will come in to take their place. And this year in Toronto, it may be the day the Mitch Marner era ends in the city.

Marner is widely expected to be testing free agency, potentially not re-signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the rumour mill is up and running as questions circle of where the three-time All-Star will end up next.

Marek raised the possibility of the Anaheim Ducks being in contention to land Marner to NHL Network’s David Pagnotta during Monday’s edition of The Sheet. Pagnotta agreed that the franchise is likely to go after the longtime Leaf.

“Yeah, I absolutely believe that,” Pagnotta said. “I think they’ve got a ton of cap space and a willingness to spend it, and I think approaching Mitch Marner and his camp falls under that category. I absolutely think they’re gonna be aggressive.”

When it comes to Marner’s free agency at this point, there’s a whole lot to consider. There’s no doubt that a big, fat payout is at the front of his mind, with the Leafs allegedly already offering him a substantial contract offer this season. But with a bidding war likely in the works, it may open the door for other important factors.

One big big barrier for a team like the Ducks is whether Marner is interested in joining a re-building franchise, or if he wants to jump right onto a team that will give him a chance to win a Cup sooner rather than later. Of course any player wants the chance to win, but a place like Anaheim might offer him some more anonymity and a chance to build the team around him as a key piece.

“Now I don’t know if that’s an environment, a market, a team, given where they’re at right now, that he wants to be in,” Pagnotta said, of Anaheim. “Does he want to wait a little bit before they get legitimately competitive, or does he want to go right into the fire right out of the gate, like in LA, or Vegas, or Carolina, or whomever. So that’s kind of what he’s gonna have to juggle.”

If he decides current competitiveness is not as important to him as the offer on the table, Pagnotta also threw in the Utah Mammoth as a group that will be working to put together a big offer for the star forward.

As the month of June ticks down, it brings with it some of the longest days of the year. Not just astronomically, but also for hockey fans in Toronto anxious to see how the Leafs free agency situation plays out come July, when we’ll learn if Marner truly has played his last game in the blue and white sweater.