Canucks To Make Move? Big News Regarding Mitch Marner's Future With the Toronto Maple Leafs Confirmed

We're entering crunch time for teams around the National Hockey League who are hoping to avoid their free agents from hitting the open market starting at 9:10 am PT on July 1st.

Undoubtedly, the biggest name that's eligible to become a free agent in less than three weeks is Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner, who is coming off the first 100+ point campaign of his NHL career.

Many have been wondering where Mitch Marner could land if he does hit the open market and if staying with the Toronto Maple Leafs is possible at this point, but it looks like that ship has sailed.

In a post on social media on Friday afternoon, Andy Strickland of the Cam and Strick Podcast and FanDuel Sports Network shared that he can confirm Mitch Marner will not be returning to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

This is a pretty significant development and if it happens to be true, it'll be interesting to see if there's any appetite from the Maple Leafs or Mitch Marner to do a sign-and-trade over the next couple weeks, allowing the pending UFA to land a max eight-year deal, while Toronto gets an asset, albeit nothing substantial, in return.

Earlier on Friday, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on his 32 Thoughts podcast that if Mitch Marner leaves the Toronto Maple Leafs, it'll be for a Western Conference team and he'd be shocked if the 28-year-old remained in the East.

In recent weeks, Mitch Marner has been linked to a number of teams in the Western Conference including the Chicago Blackhawks - where he could form a lethal duo with Connor Bedard - as well as the Los Angeles Kings and Utah Mammoth.

It's only a matter of time before hockey fans find out where Mitch Marner will be suiting up in October and even though he'd be a great fit in Vancouver, the Canucks certainly don't have the money to bring him in.