Marner's agent says 'lowball' comments were from offseason
Mitch Marner's agent, Darren Ferris, is backtracking on his comments that the Toronto Maple Leafs are lowballing his client.
A story by Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star surfaced late Tuesday in the hours after Auston Matthews signed a five-year contract extension, and it was lined with quotes indicating the two sides are far apart in contract discussions. On Wednesday, Ferris said the quotes were from the summer.
"I know some things in today's article that were taken out of context," Ferris told TSN 1050 Toronto. "It was more from the summer and early goings which is normal negotiations with contracts, everyone starts off low, and then you get to a common ground. It's just an unfortunate thing that this article had to come out yesterday.
"We ended up discussions on a positive note, we were closer on numbers and it was moving in the right direction. We're not far off, I can tell you that," he said.
However, Feschuk provided some clarity of his own.
To clarify, the quotes from Darren Ferris in this piece were from yesterday, not from the summer as Ferris mistakenly implied on @FirstUp1050. Just spoke to Ferris, who acknowledged he meant to say they "referred to" events from the summer. https://t.co/jeVY4CLmel
— Dave Feschuk (@dfeschuk) February 6, 2019
In early January, Ferris doubled down on his stance that Marner won't negotiate his next contract in-season. Marner is the last of Toronto's "Big Three" restricted free agents to sign before the 2019-20 campaign. William Nylander inked a deal in December after a lengthy dispute, while Matthews' contract came together in seemingly quick order and was finalized Tuesday.
Marner currently leads all Leafs and ranks eighth in the NHL with 63 points in 52 games. With Matthews now locked up, Toronto has just over $71.9 million in committed salary next season with a projected league-wide cap of $83 million.
"I have no doubt by the end of the season everything will work out, and Mitch will be, as (general manager) Kyle (Dubas) said, a Leaf for a long time," Ferris said.