Elliotte Friedman breaks the silence on Marner and Tavares' futures

"If you're Tavares or Tavares' representatives, you have to recognize the possibility they may come to you. If you are Marner or Marner's representatives you have to recognize the possibility that by simply saying they are not going to do certain things contract-wise, whether it's the number or the structure or whatever you want to make it that you're going to have to consider going elsewhere. I think right now we are in the unwinding phase, and I would expect in the next week or two that some of these conversations are going to take place.


There are teams out there that are going to start asking Toronto, 'Okay, if Marner is available, what are we looking at here?' As I've said before, going back to last summer with Nylander, teams know that Toronto is looking for the best defenseman that they can possibly get. So who's out there via trade and what are some of these teams willing to do. That's what I think the next month before the draft is going to be all about."