SIMMONS SAYS: Marner’s contract, play were enough protection

The Leafs provided Marner with everything he needed to succeed.

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Ten years ago, the Maple Leafs gave a rookie signing bonus to Auston Matthews, but not to Mitch Marner.

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That one, after all these years, still stings.

That one — for the record, two teams and four general managers ago, give or take a firing — is still prominent in the rather twisted mind of Marner’s agent, Darren Ferris. This is not unlike breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend in high school and then, years later after a marriage and children, still complaining about the unfair treatment.

That Ferris went public on a podcast recently claiming the Leafs “didn’t protect Marner” was more nonsense on a story that is being kept alive only by the paranoid people in Marner’s circle.

Marner played nine seasons in Toronto, scored the most points and power-play points of any Leaf, played the most time as a forward, became the first Leafs winger to compile 100 points in a season, and was twice voted to the NHL’s first all-star team. For that, he was paid among the highest in all of hockey.

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Where exactly the Leafs failed to protect Marner in all of this is anyone’s guess. All he did was contribute until the playoffs began. All he did, for the most part, was his job and he was hugely compensated for that. The fact that he didn’t score much at playoff time made him — along with Matthews and William Nylander — targets from frustrated fans. That criticism was fair and heartfelt.

That feeble playoff run eventually cost team president Brendan Shanahan his job, which had nothing to do with the Leafs not protecting Marner. They provided him with everything he needed to succeed. They spoiled their players. The story should be over now with Marner in Vegas and the Leafs with new management.

It’s easy now to understand Marner’s feelings about the Leafs when you hear the agent spewing such drivel. That’s your representative. How exactly is he protecting his client now by spreading so much nonsense?

THIS AND THAT

How horrible is this Blue Jays season? Consider the context: In 1979, the still-expansion Blue Jays won 53 games and had a team OPS of .681. As of Saturday afternoon, the supposedly contending Blue Jays have a team OPS of .681. This team with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Alejandro Kirk has the same numbers as the Jays with John Mayberry, Roy Howell and an ancient Rico Carty … One thing to be clear about the Jays: Last year, the sensational World Series season, was the outlier. This year is almost identical offensively to the 2024 season. Just two years ago, the Jays won 74 games and there was pressure to fire the general manager, Ross Atkins. Today, with a record of 47-57 after 104 games, they are on pace for 74 wins, as well. In 2024, the Jays finished 11th in runs scored in the American League; this year (all stats entering play Saturday) they’re 15th. They were 13th in home runs in ’24 and are 14th now. They were ninth in batting average in ’24 and eighth in 2026. And right now, they are last in on base percentage, 13th in slugging, and last in OPS. That’s worse in all three categories than two seasons ago … In the World Series year, how different were the numbers? The Jays finished second in runs scored, first in hits, sixth in homers, first in batting average, first in on base percentage, third in slugging and second in OPS. This season isn’t the fluke. Last year’s magnificence was … The past 10 seasons with Mark Shapiro as team president and Atkins as GM, the Jays have won 730 games and lost 724. That’s a lot of corporate money spent by Edward Rogers and Tony Staffieri for .501 baseball. Can we bring that up at the next annual meeting?

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HEAR AND THERE

The Kawhi Leonard trade, if made, was a luxury for the Raptors before LeBron James signed in Philadelphia. Now that James is in Philly, alongside Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown and V.J. Edgecombe, it’s an absolute necessity … Without Kawhi, the Raptors would find themselves in the mushy middle of a strengthening Eastern Conference of the NBA, with the New York Knicks as defending champions, with Miami adding adding Giannis Antetokounmpo to its lineup, with Tyrese Haliburton returning in Indianapolis. The Raptors need to know they have a closer such as Kawhi, that’s with not knowing whether any suspension will come from the cap-circumvention investigation, and how the trade can, and will, proceed from here. This could be a most fascinating NBA season … How much does the health of Chris Tanev mean to the Maple Leafs? Put it this way: In the past three seasons, two in Toronto, one in Dallas and Calgary, Tanev played 161 NHL games and his team lost just 58 of them. In the 86 games Tanev has played with the Leafs, the team won 55 times, lost just 26 games in regulation. In the 78 games Tanev missed with injury in Toronto, the Leafs won just 29 times … Kevin Gausman has been almost the perfect Blue Jay. He’s performed mostly at a high level in his five seasons here, missed next to no time because of injury, conducted himself beautifully, loved the team, its history and the city. If he winds up traded at the upcoming August deadline, that’s unfortunate, but it’s also the way business is conducted these days in big league baseball. Gausman can help a contender: I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see him go elsewhere and then re-sign in Toronto after he becomes a free agent in October … The sign of Blue Jays desperation and John Schneider’s optimism meeting at an axis: Springer is now hitting cleanup for the Jays — with a near career-low .696 OPS, career-low numbers in home runs, batting average, OPS+, and almost everything else offensively. If someone wants Springer at the deadline, the Jays have to deal him. His six years here are more than over. Last year, he had a season for the ages. He hit one of those home runs that will be remembered forever. The rest of the years in Toronto, though, in Randy Carlyle’s words, just OK.

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SCENE AND HEARD

Being around the Blue Jays’ 1992-93 world championship players last Saturday was like crashing someone else’s high school reunion. It was tons of fun just watching the old Jays hanging out, listening to them telling stories, seeing how much these men still care for, and about, each other 30-plus years after their greatest success. I was pleased to be able to touch base and renew acquaintances with Pat Gillick and Cito Gaston, with Gord Ash and Paul Beeston, with Pat Hentgen Jack Morris, Tom Henke and Pat Borders, with John Olerud, Paul Molitor, Alfredo Griffin and Dave Stieb. And then word came down Saturday night or Sunday morning that Duane Ward had rather stunningly passed away. So many of the players were with the great relief pitcher in a hotel bar on Friday night when he decided to head back to his hotel room early. It wasn’t like Ward to be the first to bed. He was more of a last-call and after kind of guy. But he looked tired, Henke told me. The next day, he was gone. Ward was huge for both the ’92 and ’93 championship teams. He was the winning pitcher when Joe Carter hit the ‘touch-em-all-Joe’ home run, and he saved two other games in that Series win. The year before, against Atlanta, he was the winning pitcher in Games 2 and 3 against the Braves. His passing was a shocking ending to an otherwise wonderful weekend and it made some of he players I spoke with thankful for just about every day they continue on … Borders was voted MVP of the ’92 series. If you look back with some detail, Jimmy Key might have been a better choice. Key was among the few former Jays who didn’t partake in the celebration last Saturday … Last summer, just about everybody I asked said good things about Nicholas Roy and Dakota Joshua and told me how much they were going to help the Maple Leafs. They didn’t help much. The same people who loved Roy and Joshua are now say the same things about Colton Sissons. We’ll see how all of that works out in October … I don’t think I’ve ever come across an athlete who was harder on himself than Jack Campbell was when he played goal for the Maple Leafs. He took every loss and every goal against him personally and it probably damaged his career in the big picture. Campbell had NHL talent but not the kind of amnesia great goalies require to succeed long-term in the NHL. Interestingly enough, Campbell is retiring to become a life coach … I remember covering the very sharp goalie, Don Edwards, years ago. The standing joke around Edwards was that he would complain that he was screened on breakaways. He never thought he let in a goal that was his fault, or so he would say. It got him through 10 NHL seasons and some Team Canada work along the way. Sometimes you need to be that in professional sports.

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AND ANOTHER THING

If you watched the Montreal Expos in their early years, you would certainly remember Ron Hunt. He turned getting hit by a pitch into his own personal art form. In the 1971 season, Hunt was hit by a pitch 50 times. How overt is that number? Well, Shea Hillenbrand has the Blue Jays record of 22 times being hit in a season. Don Baylor, second behind Hunt, was once hit 35 times in a season and holds the Yankees record at 24. Hunt passed away at the age of 85 last week … The same season Hunt got hit 50 times, Rusty Staub was second on the Expos. He got hit nine times … This is my first year truly following the WNBA. What I don’t quite understand is whether this is a basketball league or a daily subplot of various and occasionally twisted political viewpoints. It does seem to be non-stop … This is Week 8 in the Canadian Football League and I can’t remember a season with this much great football this early. But you wouldn’t know that if you listen to the rule-change screamers who are somehow missing the point on these eight terrific weeks of football I’m watching. Forget the rules. Watch the game! … When I heard Patrick Kane signed for $8 million and two years with the Chicago Blackhawks, I naturally assumed that was for $4 million a year. Turns out, it’s $8 million a year, which is giant money for guy who hasn’t put up significant point totals in five years … Kara Lang, the former national team soccer player, had a terrific description of Jesse Marsch following Canada’s performance in the World Cup of soccer. She said that Marsch says some crazy things, but thinks she would love playing for him. Lang, by the way, is married to former Jays pitcher Ricky Romero … The Red Sox wearing that odd shade of green just doesn’t work for me … NHL players should hope Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin keep on playing because their jerseys are the No. 2 and 3 sellers in all of hockey. That money goes half to the owners, half to the players. It will be tough to replace the sales when Crosby and Ovechkin are gone … Weird thing is Connor Bedard leads the NHL in jerseys sold, yet Macklin Celebrini is 10th on the sales list. That could be reversed this season. And don’t tell Marner’s agent this, but Marner is not even in the top-10 list of jerseys sold. But Matthews comes in at No. 9. Must be a conspiracy of some kind … When exactly in time did the Commonwealth Games go from being a giant event in Canada to something we barely pay attention to any longer? … If I’m the Ilitch family, I’d touch base with Jimmy Devellano and former Wings coach Scotty Bowman before hiring the general manager to replace Steve Yzerman in Detroit. While up there in age, both men are still well-versed in what it means to run a successful operation … Happy birthday to George Chuvalo (89), Kevin Barker (51), Steve Podborski (69), Braydon Fisher (26), Ed Sprague (59), Andrei Vasilevskiy ((32), Sebastian Aho (29), Alvin Kamara (31), Nick Nurse (59), Bob Lilly (87), Mike Rae (75), Brandon Morrow (42), Sandra Bullock (62) and Mick Jagger (83) … And hey, whatever became of Mike Pringle?

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