Toronto Maple Leafs: Dave Bolland throws gas on Mitch Marner situation
Former Toronto Maple Leafs centre Dave Bolland decided to comment on the Mitch Marner contract discussion and his opinion wasn’t exactly a popular one.
If you want to get on the nerves of Toronto Maple Leafs fans bring up the Mitch Marner contract negotiations and the emotions will take over.
The worst place to be on during these times is twitter and Wednesday was no different when former Leafs centre Dave Bolland decided to send out a tweet saying Marner is worth more than Auston Matthews which started a firestorm of replies and he made sure to respond to each person.
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Now some of the responses were pretty cruel and unnecessary bringing up CTE and some were just suggesting that the former NHLer was doing it because his agent (well former now that he doesn’t play anymore) works for the agency that represents Marner.
Sure it might be a coincidence but it’s highly unlikely the Marner camp would think that Bolland can influence the discussions in any way. At the same time, Bolland certainly made sure to remind people of his experience with the Chicago Blackhawks winning two Stanley Cups.
The 36-year-old decided to double down on his take talking to Dave McCarthy of Sporting News saying that the Leafs winger should take his time with negotiations and get what he wants in the deal.
"“I think Marner has been their best player,” Bolland told Sporting News. “I know Matthews is a goal scorer, he puts up goals; but I think as an all-around player, I see Marner as like a Jonathan Toews. Toews was our go-to guy in Chicago, we’d have him out there for power play, penalty kill. He was the guy when things were going down, and I kind of see Marner in that same type of position.“He’ll do anything, and can do anything, to help the team win.”"
Comparing Marner to Jonathan Toews is a really hard argument to make considering the differences in the way both players play and the roles they play. You can’t argue against his point that Marner is relied upon in many ways.
At the same time, Marner is not expected to be the top penalty killer on the team but he was also sixth in ice time on the PK. Let’s also not forget that Marner’s addition to the PK is also meant to provide an offensive threat not necessarily to play the hard defensive minutes that forwards like Zach Hyman, Connor Brown, and Kasperi Kapanen do.
What you should take from these comments by Bolland is that if he believes in what he’s saying you can certainly believe that Marner and his agent Darren Ferries have similar thoughts as well. We have already heard Ferris saying he wants Marner to get the Matthews contract so you know he believes his client is at the same level as Matthews.
If you think it is going to be easy getting away from the drama the only way it will be possible is if you delete social media off your phone but for some, that’s easier said than done.
Next. Would Mitch Marner take this contract?. dark
What do you think about the comments made by Bolland? Do you think they actually have value when you think about the comparisons being made about Matthews and Marner? Let us know in the comments below.