By Canadian Press

Marchand weighs in on Marner’s contract negotiations with Maple Leafs

Mar 5, 2019 | 7:15 AM

Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs have agreed to put their contract negotiations on hold until the off-season.

But that won’t stop Brad Marchand of the rival Boston Bruins from weighing in.

Marner had a goal and two assists in Toronto’s 6-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday night, bringing his points total for the season up to 81. Tweets from the NHL’s public relations department noted that Marner became the first Maple Leafs player to reach the 80-point mark in a season since Phil Kessel did it in 2013-14 and that the London Knights product also became the eighth player in franchise history to require 66 or fewer games to reach the 80-point mark.

Marchand replied from his verified Twitter account, speculating how many millions of dollars the average annual value of Marner’s new contract would be.

“I cant wait to see this kids new deal… 12m AAV?? It better be,” said Marchand, adding the hashtag #Marnerwatch.

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The NHL’s official Twitter account replied with an animated gif of Marner’s mother, Bonnie, giving a double thumbs up.

“That’s funny. I’m sure Mitch, he’ll have his agent do his thing and they’ll have their own plan in place to go forward as far as the contract goes,” Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews said Tuesday at the Maple Leafs’ practice in Vancouver.

Matthews said Marchand’s tweet is probably half advocating for Marner, half stirring the pot.

“Obviously there’s a lot of truth behind it,” he said.

Marner said he’s not concerned about the tweet being a distraction.

“It’s cool but I’m not really focused on it too much,” he said. “Like I’ve said before, that’s why you have an agent. Let him and Kyle (Dubas) talk about that stuff.

“For me here, I’m just focusing on the team, make sure every day I come in ready to play.”

Entering the season, Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas had to try to sign the young trio of Marner, Matthews and William Nylander. Dubas signed Nylander to a six-year, US$41.77-million contract on Dec. 1, ending the restricted free agent’s holdout, while Matthews reached a five-year, $58.17-million extension on Feb. 5.

Nylander’s AAV is $6.962 million while Matthews has an AAV of $11.634 million.

The 21-year-old Marner leads the Maple Leafs with 81 points (24 goals, 57 assists) and is ninth in the NHL. Matthews has 30 goals and 30 assists, while Nylander has five goals and 11 assists in 38 games.

— With files from Gemma Karstens-Smith in Vancouver

The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version incorrectly stated William Nylander was slated to become a restricted free agent after this season.