EXCLUSIVE:Maple leafs Key man sends farewell message to club as he joins his dream club.

A few weeks ago, Mitch Marner was being panned by the Toronto media for his ordinary playoff performances. That means winter is over…

All joking aside, each first-round loss for Toronto weighs more and more heavily. And now, the club has even changed coaches, suggesting that management is more fed up than ever.

If the core four is to be broken, it won’t be through Auston Matthews or William Nylander, who signed medium/long-term contracts less than a year ago. Nor will it involve John Tavares, who will be hard to trade.

Marner, a local guy, is the most likely to leave. With only one year left on his contract, this is a great opportunity to see if a club might be willing to go out and sign him for the long term.

And obviously, the main interested party doesn’t seem to be against the project.

According to what Steve Kouleas reports for NHL Network, it would appear that the player is not closed to the idea of a change of address, given all that has happened in recent years.

That doesn’t mean he’ll leave for sure, but there’s a chance that with the right offer on the table, it could happen.

Obviously, to trade him, we have to expect that there will be negotiations for a contract extension so he’s not just there for one year. He’s eligible to sign one as early as July 1, one year before his current contract expires.

Who might be interested in him?

In his segment, Kouleas mentioned the Ducks and Predators. These are two teams that operate in a market less… demanding than Toronto’s.

And recently, David Pagnotta also mentioned the Preds.

Could Nashville, who seemingly want to make the playoffs next year, want to send an excellent goaltender (perhaps Juuse Saros, who is also a year away from independence) to Toronto to get their hands on Marner?

I wouldn’t rule it out.

I’m sure that the closer the draft gets, the more people will talk. The Ducks could also be a possibility… And I wonder if that would include a Trevor Zegras. #Chaos

Will Chicago look to surround Connor Bedard? Will Salt Lake City want to make a big splash? We’ll see.