Hurricanes, Golden Knights and Kings among frontrunners to land pending free agent Mitch Marner following recent reports from top NHL insiders.
The sweepstakes for superstar winger Mitch Marner are heating up with recent rumors taking teams out of the equation and narrowing down the field.
It was reported by multiple sources that the 102-point scorer this past season is not interested in returning to his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the team has reached out but has not found any success in reaching the 28-year-old.
“The Maple Leafs have tried to talk to Marner and Marner’s camp have engaged with them and I think everyone knows where this will be heading,”
– Friedman explained on his podcast, 32 Thoughts.
With the confirmation of a new team being in play, we can start to narrow down the options for where we think Marner will go but we should first look back to what the latest betting odds were before the recent reports.
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Updated Mitch Marner Next Team Odds (via FanDuel Sportsbook)
Vegas Golden Knights +195
Carolina Hurricanes +470
Pittsburgh Penguins +600
Anaheim Ducks +800
Chicago Blackhawks +800
Los Angeles Kings +1000
Utah Mammoth +1600
Toronto Maple Leafs +2100
San Jose Sharks +2700
Florida Panthers +2900
Ottawa Senators +2900
Columbus Blue Jackets +2900
Philadelphia Flyers +4000
New York Islanders +4000
Detroit Red Wings +4000
It was reported by Friedman that he’s heard from Maple Leaf teammates of Marner that they believe he will move to the Western Conference as some described the move being a “clean break.”
Friedman expanded on this by mentioning some of the teams he heard were in on Marner saying “People believe LA, people believe Vegas is definitely a team to watch if not the team to watch.”
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Along with the Kings and Golden Knights, Friedman confirmed that he heard through several sources that the Hurricanes are hoping to make a serious push for Marner after failing to secure a superstar talent when acquiring and then dealing winger Mikko Rantanen.
This could open up the possibility to several teams remaining in the conversation like the Detroit Red Wings, who have slightly less cap space than Carolina but have one of the deepest prospect pools in the league and could prove to be enticing to Marner.
The values for all these teams are still very solid if they are to remain what we last saw before sportsbooks starting taking down the bet. With the Golden Knights at +500, the Hurricanes at +470, the Kings at +850 and the Red Wings behind the rumored top favourites at +3500, it should make for an exciting bidding war.
We could look to pull the trigger on placing a bet on the race, when we next get a chance, with the Hurricanes and Golden Knights appering to be the best cases as it was reported Marner would like to join a contender but the report was seemingly speculation and nothing official.
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