The Maple Leafs turned down massive trade last Friday!

The trade shocked everyone last Friday night when star forward Mikko Rantanen was shipped by the Colorado Avalanche to the Carolina Hurricanes in a three-team deal that also saw the Canes getting Taylor Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks and Martin Necas and Jack Drury on their way to Denver.

Over the last month, it had become clear a Rantanen trade was a possibility in Colorado, perhaps in the same way some pundits wonder if the Toronto Maple Leafs will move forward Mitch Marner ahead of the March 7 deadline. At the center of it all comes a contract extension and a player that could command too much money, meaning, like the Avalanche, that the Leafs could make the tough and bold choice to trade Marner.

And it could have happened this way last week. According to insider Frank Seravalli, the Hurricanes reached out to Toronto and inquired about a Marner trade before they finally pull the trigger and landed both Rantanen and Hall in the blockbuster transaction.

“I believe that the Carolina Hurricanes at least inquired about Mitch Marner as they were going through this process with Mikko Rantanen. I don’t know how far they got, I don’t know if it’s a possibility that maybe they were not a team that Marner would go to.”

Marner does have a full no-move protection in his current contract, so if he’s going to be traded, he’d have to agree to it—and it’s hard to see why he’d want to.

There is a strong belief that the Maple Leafs and general manager Brad Treliving were not willing to part with Marner. Just yet… Marner and the Leafs appear to be no closer to coming to terms on a contract extension than they were on July 1st, which could lead to another massive trade this season. One that Marner remains almost in full control.