NHL Insider reveals failed three-way blockbuster trade sending Mitch Marner to Vegas & Mikko Rantanen to $2B franchise

Everyone in the hockey world is waiting for the shoe to drop on the Mitch Marner situation. We are less than 24 hours away from July 1, the official start of free agency, and nothing has been resolved.

Reports over the weekend suggested that a sign-and-trade sending Marner to Vegas was in the works, but that's yet to come to fruition.

With so much chatter about Marner's future, Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman was asked about what happened with the Maple Leafs superstar at the trade deadline on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast.

He provided some details about a failed three-way deal that would have sent Marner to Vegas and Mikko Rantanen to Dallas, worth $2 billion per Forbes. Spittin' Chiclets posted the clip with the information Friedman shared on X (formerly Twitter).

"They talked about a Marner-for-Theodore deal last year around this time. Vegas didn't want to do it. Not that they didn't like Marner, but they didn't want to trade Theodore. They wanted to keep him. And of course, they signed him... And then, at the deadline this year, after Marner said no to Carolina—or, I should say this, I don't know if it was after Marner said no to Carolina, but around that time—they brought Vegas in," Friedman said.

"Toronto, Carolina, and Vegas talked about a three-way, where Marner would go to Vegas, Rantanen would go to Dallas, but the problem was they couldn't find a package between those two teams that would satisfy Carolina. Toronto didn’t want to trade Knies, so it didn’t happen," Friedman added.

The Maple Leafs notably just re-signed Matthew Knies to a six-year, $46,500,000 contract extension to keep him in Toronto.

Mitch Marner to Vegas remains the most likely outcome

While the sign-and-trade sending Mitch Marner to Vegas has yet to happen, all signs point to it getting done in the coming days.

Elliotte Friedman shared the latest during his appearance on Spittin' Chiclets. Leafslatest posted what he had to say on X.

"I still think there’s a very real chance Mitch Marner ends up in Vegas. My opinion on that hasn’t changed—I still believe it’s a strong possibility. I believe Nic Roy will be part of the return going back to the Maple Leafs," Friedman said.

Nicolas Roy is a 28-year-old right-shot center who has two years remaining on his five-year, $15,000,000 contract signed with the Golden Knights in 2022.

While losing Mitch Marner is not ideal, acquiring Roy would be a lot better than seeing their star winger walk for nothing in free agency.