NHL Rumors: $1B franchise circling back on Mitch Marner years after failed offer sheet attempt

Mitch Marner came quite close to leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs as an RFA in 2019.

Fast forward six years, and it's very likely he will be departing his hometown team as a UFA. Marner is set to hit the open market on July 1, after playing out the final season of his six-year, $65,408,000 contract extension that he wound up signing to remain a Maple Leaf in 2019.

Those negotiations weren't the smoothest, and the threat of an offer sheet felt like a real possibility as the two sides remained far apart. One team that was right in the thick of things, attempting to pry Marner out of Toronto, was the Columbus Blue Jackets, worth $1 billion per Forbes.

According to team reporter Aaron Portzline, don't be surprised to hear the Blue Jackets among the teams willing to spend big on Mitch Marner again this summer. Portzline wrote an article on the topic for The Athletic, which he shared the link to on X (formerly Twitter).

"To this day, it’s hard to say how serious the talks were between the Blue Jackets and Toronto Maple Leafs star forward Mitch Marner, then a 22-year-old restricted free agent. But as The Athletic reported back then, Kekäläinen and Darren Ferris, Marner’s agent, at least discussed the possibility of signing Marner to an offer sheet," Portzline wrote.

"Marner ultimately stayed with the Maple Leafs, signing a six-year, $65.4 million contract during which he cemented his status as one of the NHL’s top talents. That contract expires July 1, and Marner is set to hit the market, this time as an unrestricted free agent. The Blue Jackets, now with Don Waddell in the GM’s chair, are expected to pursue Marner again, but they’ll have plenty of competition. Several clubs suddenly have money to spend after the NHL’s salary cap increased for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic," Portzline added.

The Blue Jackets have over $40 million in cap space, in a prime position to make multiple splashes this offseason.

Mitch Marner is coming off a career-best season

Despite being in a contract year with a future full of uncertainty, Mitch Marner put together the best statistical regular season of his NHL career.

The 28-year-old hit triple digits for the first time, racking up 102 points (27 goals, 75 assists) across 81 games in 2024-25. It was a deserving milestone for the superstar winger who had come extremely close to hitting the mark in prior seasons.

Marner's production this year certainly didn't diminish his value, and he is about to receive a massive payday in the coming weeks.