And if you’re Toronto general manager Kyle Dubas, it made your job a whole lot tougher. Kyle Dubas, right, with Leafs president Brendan Shanahan, knows he’ll be under close scrutiny as he attempts to sign Mitch Marner and build around his young stars. ( Steve Russell / Toronto Star )This coming off-season won’t be difficult simply because Marner’s impending contract negotiations figure to be acrimonious. Susceptible to offer sheets, one might fit as a trade piece in a defence-centric deal — that’s if Dubas keeps his word and leaves Nylander off the block. Ideally it’d mean, among many things, that the Leafs would use data to become better than their competitors at identifying undervalued players.

Source: thestar April 25, 2019 00:33 UTC