You can bet the Ottawa Senators don't like the Mitch Marner deal to Vegas one bit
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The business of the National Hockey League never ceases to amaze anyone. The kowtowing to the Vegas Golden Knights continued on the eve of free agency Tuesday when the club acquired the rights to free agent winger Mitch Marner in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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Only hours before the NHL's market opened on Canada Day, the Leafs confirmed they had sent Marner to the Knights in exchange for forward Nicolas Roy. Marner immediately signed an eight-year, $96 million US deal as he rode into the sunset.
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If you're wondering why Andlauer, the owner of the Ottawa Senators, has every right to be upset, look no further than why this deal happened in the first place. This one doesn't pass the smell test.
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Talk surfaced in league circles on Saturday that the Leafs and Knights were going to go toe-to-toe over Marner, with Toronto general manager Brad Treliving demanding something in return from the Knights, or the club could be the subject of a tampering complaint.
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Hockey Night in Canada's Elliotte Friedman spoke about this on his 32 Thoughts Podcast late Saturday night because Vegas had been chasing Marner for over a year. The talk in league circles was that one way or another, Marner was going to land with the Knights.
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Lo, and behold, before the market opened, the Leafs were able to get the third-line centre they so badly need out of the Knights in exchange for the rights to Marner. The deal will pay Marner a whopping $12 million a year.
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All that talk about any tampering complaints will be shoved under the rug, and everybody will live happily ever after. The NHL should immediately launch an investigation, but it won't. Instead, the trade was approved by the Central Registry.
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But you have to think, Andlauer and Steve Staios, the club's president of hockey operations and general manager, must be steaming over this deal between the Knights and Leafs.
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Teams were warned about the fines for tampering and reminded that it wouldn't be tolerated with July 1 just around the corner.
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The NHL penalized the Senators a first-round draft choice in either 2024, 2025 or 2026 because of a botched deal with the Vegas Golden Knights for winger Evgenii Dadonov.
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