VANCOUVER—If you are a Leafs fan, you might be sick of hearing about Mitch Marner’s contract. If you hate the Leafs, you might be sick of hearing about Mitch Marner’s contract. Honestly, if you are Mitch Marner, you might be sick of hearing about Mitch Marner’s contract. That’s all fair.

Maybe that’s why Brad Marchand tweeted about Mitch Marner’s contract. Hard to say, really.

“I cant wait to see this kids new deal ... ($12 million annual average value)?? It better be,” wrote the Boston Bruins winger in response to an NHL tweet that highlighted Marner’s 81-point year so far. Marchand thoughtfully hashtagged it, #Marnerwatch.

This being the social media era, the official NHL Twitter account replied with a GIF of Marner’s mother Bonnie giving a double thumbs up while wearing her son’s jersey. Which, as something coming from the actual league, probably didn’t please Leafs management, you know? Probably. The players themselves mostly brushed it off.

“No, I mean, I was tagged in it, so I saw it,” Marner said, “and obviously Twitter blew up for a good three hours straight afterwards.”

“Realistically, it’s got no effect on anything,” linemate John Tavares said.

“As far as the tweet, I mean, it’s pretty funny,” centre Auston Matthews said. “It’s kind of half and half there with stirring the pot, and a lot of truth behind it.”

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Indeed. Brad Marchand, bless his fearless prankster’s heart, either wants Marner to get paid, or he wants the Leafs’ salary cap to go kablooie. Maybe both.

And that’s the thing: We might all be sick of it, but the way the Leafs and the NHL rules work, everything has to be seen through a fiscal context. Auston Matthews’ deal, William Nylander’s deal, Tyler Ennis’s deal, everyone. The hard salary cap means that if you have a lot of talent or bad enough management, it’s hard to separate contracts from performance. It’s just how it is.

Which brings us to backup goaltender Garret Sparks, who was re-signed to a modest one-year, $750,000 (U.S.) extension Tuesday. It fits. Sparks has a tough job: He has started 13 games, has a .902 save percentage. Every time he plays, the stakes are, for him, disproportionately huge.

So as Nazem Kadri talked about coming closer to a return from a concussion, and the team’s fourth-line pool wondered which one of them would come out Wednesday — Freddie Gauthier, maybe — and the team’s biggest players talked about Brad Marchand tweeting, Sparks was talking honestly about his year so far.

“It’s been emotionally taxing, I won’t lie,” said Sparks, 25. “It’s been a tough year. But I think it’s made me a better athlete and a better goaltender. I’d rather go through this stuff now rather than a portion of your career where you’re being relied upon as a starter ... I’m just looking forward to continue playing this year, and have a few more good starts, and keep building something.”

“Well he’s just got to grow his craft, that’s the biggest thing,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “If you look around the league it’s hard to be a goaltender in the National Hockey League, it’s hard to be a good one, so his priorities are just to keep working, build his skill base so that his confidence grows and he becomes a real good goaltender.”

Sparks talked about how Frederik Andersen was the best mentor and example he could ask for, and how Andersen’s excellence also makes the comparison to his backup all the more challenging. He talked about keeping progress in perspective, and not chasing giant leaps after the bad days. He talked about marginal gains, not only as a goaltender but as a person, and not getting lost in the noise of the game, or his own head. To keep things in perspective.

“It took me a little bit,” said Sparks. “I got a Facebook memory two days ago. It was a picture from nine years ago, it was me on my midget major Chicago Mission team. So in nine years I’ve won a national championship, I’ve played three years of junior hockey in the OHL, which I never expected to be able to do; I’ve won a world junior gold medal, which I never expected to do; I’ve played five years of pro hockey. I was the best goalie in the league in the ECHL, I was the best goalie in the league in the AHL, I won a Calder Cup.

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“And I’m in the NHL full time. So in nine years I’ve accomplished every goal that I set out for myself. And I still am not satisfied with where I’m at. I’m not even close to where I want to be. It’s so easy to lose sight of, though, too. Because nine years is a long time. But you grow so much, right? You just realize what’s really important, and what you want to pursue.”

“I mean, I’m just thrilled to be a part of this, you know? To come in this morning and have guys making six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 million dollars coming up to me, happy for me, excited to have me here next year, that meant so much for me. That reassured in my mind that it was never about dollars and cents. It’s about being in the right place with the right people.”

On Tuesday Sparks got a chance to stick around, and maybe figure it out. Look, the money is important. In hockey, it’s even existential. But there are people in there. It’s good to remember that, too.

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