The Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs have a very strong chance of squaring off in the first round of the playoffs, and the two division rivals are gearing up for that with some friendly smack talk.
Maple Leafs center Mitch Marner recently became just the eighth player in franchise history to record 80 points in 66 games or fewer games, and the 21-year-old has emerged as one of the better players in the NHL. The potential problem that could create for Toronto is that he is a restricted free agent, and the Leafs are not in great salary cap shape. On Tuesday, Marchand seemingly referenced that by saying Marner should get $12 million per year on his next deal.
I cant wait to see this kids new deal… 12m AAV?? It better be#Marnerwatch
— Brad Marchand (@Bmarch63) March 5, 2019
Marchand, a known agitator, obviously doesn’t care how much Marner gets paid. What he really wants to see is the former No. 4 overall pick become too expensive for the Maple Leafs, who already pay Auston Matthews and John Tavares more than $10 million annually each.
When asked about Marchand’s tweet on Wednesday, Toronto GM Kyle Dubas said he doesn’t blame Marchand for paying so much attention to the Leafs.
#Leafs GM Kyle Dubas on Marchand: “That was a master troll job, you have to respect that. With over 90 per cent probability to play Boston in the first round, that he was waking up in the morning thinking about the Toronto Maple Leafs, we’ll take that.”
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 6, 2019
All of this should make the potential first-round series between the Bruins and Maple Leafs even more entertaining. Plus, you never know when Marchand will pull out some of his disgusting antics. The guy is a master at getting under the skin of opponents, and he appears to have even done that with a rival team’s GM.
