Former Maple Leaf made pitch for team to bring in Mitch Marner

A report from an insider states a former member of the Toronto Maple Leafs tried hard to get his current team to land star forward Mitch Marner in a trade. That was before the team went out and dropped million of dollars on some high profile free agents.

In his latest column in the Toronto Star, Nick Kypreos said former Maple Leaf Ryan O'Reilly pushed hard for Nashville Predators GM Barry Trotz to swing a trade for Marner. However, Trotz instead decided to dole out some big bucks to other players.

Marner has been the subject of trade rumours since the Toronto Maple Leafs were ousted from the first-round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Boston Bruins. Marner was the subject of heavy criticism from fans and analysts for what many felt was lazy and uninspired play in the series.

O'Reilly's stint in Toronto was a short one, playing the 13 games in the 2022-23 regular season with the Maple Leafs, as well as another 11 in the playoffs. He signed with Nashville when free agency rolled around. As it currently stands, the Predators are slightly over the salary cap, meaning landing Marner at this point would require salary going the other way. Marner has one year left on his current contract that carries a cap hit of $10.9 million.