Exclusive: Mitch Marner on playoff pressure, trade-deadline drama and contract talks

Tour groups were shuffling through the underbelly of Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles last week when the Maple Leafs held practice there.

Fans stopped to snap photos of the spot where TV cameras often catch LeBron James strolling fashionably into the Los Angeles Lakers locker room before games.

It was there that Mitch Marner spoke to The Athletic in more detail than usual about some of the weightiest subjects swirling around him right now: the trade-deadline drama that saw the Leafs attempt to flip him for Mikko Rantanen, the apparent holding pattern in extension talks which precipitated managements request, and of course the playoffs.

Advertisement The postseason always stood to define the 2024-25 season for both Marner and the Leafs, given how poorly things have gone over the years.

The twists and turns of extension talks (or lack thereof), coupled with what went down at the deadline, only added another layer to the drama.

In this regular season, anyway, Marner has been the star the Leafs want and need.

Hes hovering around the top five in league scoring and is on pace for the first 100-point season of his NHL career.

He also met the moment for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

If he decides to test free agency on July 1, and maybe even leave the Leafs, hell be the most coveted free agent since, perhaps, Artemi Panarin in 2019.

All of which is to say: there was a lot to discuss.

Marner hadnt practiced that day.

He and Auston Matthews were both given the afternoon off the ice after logging over 25 minutes apiece the night before in a shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks.

They were off to enjoy some rare (for non-Californians) March sun.

Marner is so popular with the Toronto media that he primarily speaks in large scrums, where the opportunity for nuance and real depth on thorny subjects is rare, if not non-existent.

The hope was that in a more relaxed setting, in an actual one-on-one conversation where Marner tends to be more comfortable where he actually stood on those sensitive subjects would be clearer.

Strolling out of the arena and toward the team bus, Marner discussed what he took from his performance at the 4 Nations Face-Off, where he emerged in the biggest possible moments for Team Canada, setting up both Sam Bennetts game-tying goal in the second period against Team USA as well as Connor McDavids tournament-winning OT goal.

Just confidence, Marner said.

Ive always had belief in myself and thats just how I try to play.

Maybe just more belief and encouragement that you (can) thrive in those big moments.

Advertisement Big moments like that have obviously eluded Marner (and the teams other stars) in postseasons past.

It is the thing, above all else, thats held the Leafs back year after year and what will need to change later this spring.

If anything was translatable from his Team Canada emergence to what comes next with the Leafs, Marner said, Just when you get your moments, making the best of them.

We can always do better, especially with how our playoffs have gone, Marner added.

Obviously were not satisfied with just making it and having the results that weve had.

Just having the belief; we know we have the belief.

Its just executing that and staying patient with it, knowing not every game is gonna be an easy one or everythings gonna go your way.

Its gonna be some ups and downs and its just like the (regular) season, youve just gotta ride it out and stay with the belief and calmness that you have.

In other words, manage pressure in times of immense tension.

Does Marner feel he has become better equipped to handle pressure now in his ninth season as a Leaf? Maybe, he said.

But I played big pressure moments in London as well.

Its not something you try to shy away from or be afraid of.

Its something you try to embrace, and I think Ive done that.

There are probably people out there with their opinions on it, but thats why we dont really give a s about what people say.

You just try to do what you do.

Marner was more matter-of-fact than angry saying all this.

Yet it might still be at the core of why he may be at least pondering a future outside of his hometown: frustration with the criticism thats come his way as a Leaf, more criticism certainly than co-stars Matthews, John Tavares and William Nylander.

Did Marner, who famously swore off social media long ago, feel like he was better now at blocking out all that negativity? Advertisement He had to be, he said.

We havent had success, but you have to block out all the noise, Marner, who turns 28 next month, explained.

I think theres a lot more negative than positive stuff constantly.

You just want to focus on what you can do as a teammate, as a player on the ice, to help your team win games.

Thats what Im focused on now.

For Marner, that meant dominating the puck offensively by scoring goals, creating plays and defensively by shutting down opposing top lines.

Marner has done both to elite levels again this regular season.

His 93 points are 13 more than the next closest Leaf (Nylander) and he has the third-most assists league-wide, with only Hart Trophy candidates Nathan MacKinnon and Nikita Kucherov well in front.

With Marner on the ice at five-on-five, actual goals scored are nearly 60 percent in the Leafs favor.

And this season, Marner climbed into fifth in all-time scoring for the franchise he grew up cheering for one spot above Matthews.

Were he to stick around on a long-term deal, the kind the Leafs desperately want him to sign, he would have a very real chance of becoming the teams all-time leading scorer (and if not first, then second).

As it stands today, Marner trails Mats Sundin by only 255 points, which means he could reach No.

1 in three seasons.

If he stays.

And while conventional thinking long held that it was Marner who had to prove something to the Leafs to earn an extension, it turns out its the other way around.

That its Marner waiting to sign.

It was the inability to get his signature on a contract extension ahead of the March 7 trade deadline that led the front office, headed by president Brendan Shanahan and GM Brad Treliving, to request (at least once) that Marner waive the no-movement clause that activated in his contract in the summer of 2023.

Advertisement He declined.

How did he feel after all that, with the team that wanted him nonetheless requesting that he leave if he wasnt prepared to sign? Were there some emotions he needed to overcome in the weeks since? Im here to just play hockey, Marner told me.

Thats what I expressed (to the media) at the start of the year and express now.

Its a business out there.

I know whats going on.

Im just here to play hockey.

Im here to enjoy everything and go through the ups and downs with these guys, and just take it day by day and try to help us win games.

Did he want to clarify his position on the extension namely, explain why he wasnt prepared to sign it yet? There was a lack of clarity on that particular subject.

No, I mean, Im here to play hockey, Marner responded.

Then he added notably of the contract: Thatll come when thatll come.

What he didnt say was whether it would come with the Leafs.

Had he decided to table those discussions for the season? Marner and his agent, Darren Ferris, have never come out and said as much, but that seemed to be the implicit suggestion in their apparent stance.

Is that how Marner looked at it? I havent looked at it (in) any sort of way, he said.

Like I said, Im here to play hockey.

Thats what Im here to do.

Ill leave it at that.

And with that, he left with his teammates and headed for the sunshine.

(Photo: Nick Lachance / Toronto Star via Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.