Maple Leafs’ Treliving addresses talks with Marner, Tavares, Knies
Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said the team is currently “in the process” of determining the best way forward when it comes to the future of star forward and pending unrestricted free agent Mitch Marner.
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Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said the team is currently “in the process” of determining the best way forward when it comes to the future of star forward and pending unrestricted free agent Mitch Marner.
“I can’t sit here and give you a definitive answer,” Treliving told reporters when asked during a press conference on Thursday about his approach to Marner’s future. “We’ve got to, No. 1, go through the process with Mitch. Our staff is in the process now of looking at all different outcomes. But we’ve got to kind of drive what we think is the best outcome. In Mitch’s case, he’s got a say in the matter.”
Treliving was quick to praise Marner when asked about the forward early on in Thursday’s media availability, and to point out the two-way nature of the talks to come.
“I think Mitch is a tremendous player,” Treliving said. “I think he’s a star.”
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The GM said he and Marner had a discussion during the team’s exit-meeting process shortly after the team was eliminated, during which he stressed the importance of time.
“It’s emotional right now, right? My discussion with Mitch was, ‘let’s all take a step back, let’s take a deep breath. I gotta decompress a little bit,’” he said.
Treliving acknowledged the departure of Brendan Shanahan — “a bit of a curve ball,” he called it, which required a few days for the team and its players and personnel to digest the major front-office shift.
The decision by MLSE CEO Keith Pelley not to renew Shanahan’s contract following his 11-year tenure was the first of many changes to come this summer.
That word — change — factored in heavily to Treliving’s opening remarks Thursday. He spoke of the many changes that came last summer, and throughout the 2024-25 season; of the changes in playing style under Year 1 of head coach Craig Berube, and how the team evolved; and of the changes he saw during two rounds of playoff hockey, before a painful Game 7 elimination that too closely resembled more of the same.
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“There’s some DNA that has to change in our team,” said Treliving, now wrapping up his second season as Toronto’s GM and opening preparations for his third.
“We’ve changed — we’ve changed a lot in the last 12 months. There will be change moving forward — that’s just the nature of the business,” he said. “No team comes back the same.”
Whether — or how — that change extends to Marner, who as the biggest name on this summer’s list of unrestricted free agents, is a question still without an answer.
Marner himself has been non-committal about his feelings on his future, and where that might be, telling reporters early last week he’ll take some time to discuss the best options for his career and his family.
Said Treliving, “You have to try to prepare for every potential outcome. And it may take some time. It may take some time to figure out the best way that we move forward. But that’s what we’re in the process of doing right now.”
While Marner is the biggest name at the forefront of potential changes to come, he’s not the only star due a new deal in Toronto. Veteran forward and former captain John Tavares, too, hits unrestricted free agency on July 1, while breakout star Matthew Knies is set to cash in as a restricted free agent.
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On Tavares, like Marner, Treliving was quick to praise but reserved in his response to reporters.
“I’m a huge John Tavares fan. Had a really good discussion with him,” Treliving said Thursday. “We’ve got to take a step back, meet with our group. How do we best move forward? What are the costs? All those things that go into a contract and everything else. How does it fit within the puzzle? So, we’ll see how that happens over the course of the next couple of weeks.”
Asked about any impending offers to his top two UFAs, Treliving could not say for certain whether Marner or Tavares would be extended offers by the team prior to July 1.
“As I said before, we’re going through that process right now,” he said.
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Treliving did express a sense of certainty — and urgency — when it comes to re-signing Knies, who he called “a big part of the future moving forward.”
“I’d like to get it done as soon as possible,” he said, adding that he felt the 22-year-old RFA-to-be “had a tremendous year.”
“We’re sort of seeing him evolve in front of our eyes,” Treliving said. “It’s a big step for a young player to become a really important player … he became a really important player.”
