You could be bang on. I think he’s young enough and hungry enough he may want to go to a team he sees as having a real shot at a cup now
~Cush29
If that’s what he truly wants, why not sign back with the Leafs for $10M? There aren’t many teams that are as close to a Cup as the Leafs that have the cap space to pay him what he seemingly thinks he’s worth. At $10M, (assuming JT takes a similar team-friendly deal), the Leafs have the flexibility to address some of the other issues in the FWD group. Marner would be welcomed back with open arms, (and extended a lot of grace in the future if he continues to disappear when needed), if he signed that deal.
That being said, I have always maintained that I would never expect a player to take any kind of team discount. These guys have short careers, go get your bag while you can.