from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

The betting here is that Mitch Marner will sign a contract with the Maple Leafs on the first day of NHL’s regular season, thus missing all of training camp and likely just a few of the first games of the season.

It isn’t an ideal situation for either Marner or the Leafs, who have managed themselves into salary cap difficulty, but it is a solution well beyond what happened a year ago with William Nylander. After the Leafs acquired the dead contract money with Vegas on David Clarkson’s deal, it provided them with the ability to get Marner signed under the noisy constraints of the salary cap once rosters are posted to begin the season.

Coach Mike Babcock certainly won’t like the interruption of having Marner missing from camp — if that’s how it winds up — because at the same time it interferes with his first line with Marner, John Tavares and Zach Hyman getting comfortable in camp, especially when Hyman is hurt and won’t likely participate.

continued plus a limited number of other hockey notes...