Toronto Maple Leafs: Mitch Marner’s agent shines light on offer sheets

Days after securing a long-term deal for Mitch Marner, Darren Ferris discussed whether the Toronto Maple Leafs had to worry about an offer sheet.

Mitch Marner made it clear once he signed that his desire was to remain with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but apparently there some teams trying to test his loyalty.

Marner’s agent Darren Ferris made the media rounds on Monday to discuss the contract negotiations saying that Marner had two offer sheets. Of course, he wanted to make it clear that there was no desire on Marner’s part to consider the offer.

"“There were two (offer sheets) presented to him in the summer,” Ferris said on TSN 1050. “Two opportunities, which he declined. He told me ‘Darren, I don’t want to sign. I want to be a Leaf.’ So we declined both those opportunities.”"

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It is no coincidence Ferris is bringing this up considering the negative press Marner received during these negotiations. Also, Ferris made sure to mention later in the interview that general manager Kyle Dubas was aware of the offer.

Not only did Ferris say that Dubas knew about the offer sheet but he made sure to say that there could have been more offers once the season started. The real question that should be asked is why go into such detail about a potential offer sheet?

Marner got a more than fair contract from the Leafs but Ferris is making sure people know that he probably could have gotten more with an offer sheet but declined it. Is that the message you want to send? Of course not, he wanted to make it clear his client’s desire was to stay with the Leafs.

The main reason why people were relieved to see Marner signed was because it put an end to the speculation around his contract negotiations and did not want to see a situation where he went to Zurich, Switzerland.

Give Marner credit, he made sure people knew that he had no desire to go down the offer sheet route but you know he used that as part of his leverage to get a better deal. There is nothing wrong with that considering a player should try to get the best deal possible.

Thankfully, there won’t be any more talk about contracts and Ferris’ negotiation tactics for a long while.

What do you think about the Marner offer sheet talk? Do you see it as the agent’s way to restore his reputation? Let us know in the comments below.