One Maple Leafs reporter has made a bold, yet reasonable suggestion involving superstar winger Mitch Marner.
Last week, the Leafs introduced Auston Matthews as the new captain in Toronto, while confirming John Tavares as one of the team’s new alternates. It is highly likely that Morgan Rielly will continue to have an ‘A’ on his jersey as the longest tenured Leaf, which leaves at least one ‘A’ up for grabs.
Given Marner’s presence at the captaincy ceremony, it would appear he has the inside track to the third alternate captain gig, but Brad Treliving noted that nothing had been decided yet, which means that it’s possible that Chris Tanev may wear an “A” for Toronto as well.
With that being said, Nick Alberga made a wild suggestion on ‘Leafs Morning Take’ today, commenting on the idea of having Marner go letter-less this season.
“I think if you’re the Maple Leafs, you have a new coach, you want some new blood. I could see Chris Tanev wearing an ‘A’. I wonder what that means for a certain guy who’s a year away from UFA. My reasoning is, and this is not about Marner — you are passing the torch to the next wave… You’re trying to overturn this roster a bit, Tanev is signed for six years. I think you would be doing to same thing if you brought the same leadership group back.”
Alberga’s comment took his co-host and former Maple Leaf Jay Rosehill by surprise and it led to him asking if Alberga was serious about his comments.
“Sorry it’s musical chairs and you’re the odd man out,” said Alberga in response to Rosehill’s question about whether Marner should wear a letter.
Given the uncertainty around Marner’s future beyond this season, it would make sense to have a leadership group that will be together beyond this season. Yes, Tavares is a free agent at the end of the season, but he will end up with an extension at some point. I believe that’s all but expected at this point.
With the addition of Tanev, as well as William Nylander’s eight-year deal kicking in, it would be more of a surprise to not see one of them be named an alternate.
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Source: USA Today
