Good morning! Hope everyone had a lovely and sunny weekend, free from all the rainstorms that came and went faster than Tim Erixon’s time with the Maple Leafs.

We all know the excerpt that the headline is referencing. We’ll be seeing it all day on Twitter while everyone tries to avoid their work as much as possible. Typical Monday stuff.

July 11, 2019: Why Nazem Kadri Vetoed A Trade To Calgary
How close did the Blue Jackets come to offer-sheeting Mitch Marner?

So, Mitch Marner wants to be a Leaf. A Toronto Maple Leaf. But he also wants to make as much as Auston Matthews and be the star on the team. Unfortunately, he can’t have both. He can’t be the highest-paid star on the team while being the third or fourth best player in the jersey every night. He can’t. It doesn’t work like that.

Maybe he would’ve gotten his $11 million if John Tavares didn’t sign last summer. On the other hand, he likely wouldn’t have made $11 million after playing on the second line with Nazem Kadri for a season (love you, Naz).

Marner wants a lot of things — and he should get most of the things he wants, he’s Mitchell freaking Marner — but he’s not getting both the money and a Leafs uniform. Something’s going to have to give and it’s not coming from Kyle Dubas’ side. We’ve known this for a long time, that quote from Friedman just puts it all into sharper contrast.

Okay, now that we got that out of the way, here is the only link I have for you. It’s Arvind and Fulemin feeling back to excited.

From The Branches