James Mirtle lists Hurricanes, Kings, Mammoth, and Golden Knights as likeliest fits for Mitch Marner

We’re officially into the month of June, which means only four more weeks of speculation around where Mitch Marner will end up. Hang in there!

There’s nothing in the Toronto Maple Leafs stratosphere that fans have less of an appetite for, but also somehow more of an appetite for, than contract negotiations involving star players. It seems like every time one of the big boys is up for a new deal, the discourse on social media hits a new gear, and with the Leafs exiting another playoff run in less-than-inspiring fashion, there’s a legitimate threat that one of these guys will be finding a new home on July 1.

The Athletic’s James Mirtle wrote a piece ranking the likelihood of Marner ending up with all 32 NHL teams, and in the tier of ‘most likely fits’, he included the Carolina Hurricanes, Los Angeles Kings, Utah Mammoth, and Vegas Golden Knights as the top contenders should Marner leave Toronto.

Mirtle notes that the Hurricanes are in dire need of a star offensive player and have arguably the best cap situation to work with. Paired with the fact that they already made a push for Marner while the whole Mikko Rantanen saga was going down, the fit here makes sense so long as there’s mutual interest. The Kings are in a similar position, and he has familiarity with head coach Jim Hiller, who was an assistant on the Leafs’ bench early in Marner’s career.

The Mammoth likely won’t stick out to Marner as a top choice, but they’re a team looking to take the next step with lots of money to burn, and the added privacy of a small-market team would likely appeal to him. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights have everything that Marner could want, they just don’t have the cap space to make it happen at the moment. But, as Mirtle notes in his piece, this hasn’t prevented the Golden Knights from taking a big swing.

“They’d have to find a way to shed salary, but when has that ever been a problem for Kelly McCrimmon and friends? The ultimate big-move team feels like they’ll find a way to be in on this one, and their bid would have the right ingredients of something Marner would be interested in.” -James Mirtle

There have been enough instances where the Leafs let a good player walk only for them to find more success elsewhere, which makes the prospect of moving on from him one that’s hard to swallow at first. But, at this point, Marner might already have his mind made up on whether he’s open to a return to the Maple Leafs or not.