The Brendan Marner Saga is over

[MetalToday 266]

Well, it’s a done deal! Brendan Marner signed a 1-year contract with an option to join the next season. This contract was a 5.25-million-dollar contract with a no-movement clause included in the deal, Marner will be an active member of the Warsaw Predators for another season. Marner and Dlamb had been talking a little bit about the contract, but Brendan Marner was really looking to see who would be interested in him in free agency. The pitch Dlamb gave really hit Brendan Marner and he knew he wanted to stay, but the Free agent talks were what he had planned on after the disappointing end of the season. There was not a whole lot of interest on the day teams were allowed to talk to free agents, but there were a few interesting teams and some very interesting pitches. Brendan Marner was looking for a good team that would give him a good chance to get a cup, and him staying in Warsaw is one of the best options he could’ve signed to with the lack of cap space around the league. Now, why did Brendan Marner ask for such a weird number on his contract? Should’ve just gone to 5.5 million dollars, right? Well, Brendan Marner and Dlamb thought there would only be 5.25 million dollars in the cap to resign the Left Winger, but one of the rookies increased from 1.25 million to 1.5 million. Brendan Marner was looking for as much as he could get without impeding with the team’s competitiveness, but in the end, he did just what he wanted to avoid. Sorry to Sock Monkey who was almost a VHLer this season. Brendan Marner negotiated a No Movement Clause as well, which he wanted so he would either stay with the competitive team or have a say of where he wanted to go in the end. The last condition to the contract was a mutual option for Marner to stay next year, Marner reportedly wanted to have the option for himself, but Dlamb insisted that he also wanted some leverage. In the end, Dlamb likely would want Brendan Marner to stay next season anyways, it would give Warsaw a good player to trade if that’s what they want or stay competitive. The only way Warsaw does not sign Marner is if they are tanking for the first overall pick. Although many players need a new contract next season, most of the players have a good connection to the GM and would likely want to stay, even if they don’t, there are a couple of signings that would be likely to happen next off-season making Warsaw more competitive. Warsaw will have a problem next season, but if they are looking to keep the top-end talent in Brendan Marner, it can happen, and from what Marner said, would be likely, he loves the team, the GM, and his linemates. Brendan Marner didn’t seem so happy that his contract ended up impeding the team from bringing up a 4th defenseman, but it would be likely that Warsaw trades for a depth defenseman if that was needed, even at 50% retained, but we will need to see how the season goes first.