- Agent Darren Ferris says the Maple Leafs “never protected” Mitch Marner in Toronto
- Ferris disputes the Carolina report, saying no Mikko Rantanen trade was ever in place
- Read below for what Ferris said about the tampering rumors and Marner’s move to Vegas
Mitch Marner’s agent isn’t mincing words about how things ended in Toronto.
Darren Ferris went on The PuckPedia Hockey Show and walked through the falling out between Marner and the Maple Leafs. He kept coming back to one idea: that the club left its best forward out to dry.
Ferris pointed to Marner leading the team in playoff points and gutting out a fractured ankle against Boston, and said none of it earned him any cover.
“This is a guy that had the most playoff points on the team and who played through a fractured ankle in the Boston series there. He really bled for that team and he was never protected by his organization, in my opinion.”
Here’s the full sit-down:
Ferris traced the trouble back further than the contract fight everyone remembers. He said it started at Marner’s entry-level deal, when the team asked him to skip performance bonuses to help the books.
Then Auston Matthews landed $2.85 million in bonuses in 2016, after Ferris says the Leafs promised nobody would get them.
“He soon found out that a promise that isn’t in the contract isn’t a promise, it’s a tactic. So nobody ever talks about the fact that Mitch did the team a favor back then.”
The agent also pushed back hard on the story that Marner blocked a trade to Carolina that would have brought back Mikko Rantanen. Ferris said the reporting missed the mark.
“There was never a trade in place. It was a suggestion put to Mitch. Would he go to Carolina if a trade would be consummated. People forget the timing. Mitch’s wife was pregnant, about to give birth to their firstborn son.”
The exit still stings around the room he left. Craig Berube said the Leafs lost their emotional leader when Marner walked, and Ferris clearly sees the split the same way from the other side.
Keith Kavanaugh teased that Ferris held nothing back before the episode even dropped:
Ferris shot down the tampering chatter that followed Marner to Vegas, and credited Kelly McCrimmon and George McPhee for how they handled his family.
“There was no tampering whatsoever that everyone kept putting on social media. Vegas does a great job. They’ve been nothing but aces.”
Marner was signed and traded to the Golden Knights this summer. His agent’s version of the breakup lands a lot differently than the one Leafs fans spent years telling.
