After Brayden Point signed a team-friendly bridge deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning (3 years at $6.75 million) and Matthew Tkachuk followed suit with a similar contract (3 years at $7 million) with the Calgary Flames, a lot of attention shifted back to the 6-year, $65.35 million deal Mitch Marner signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, several days before them.



This was supposed to be the offseason when the current crop of restricted free agent stars reset the market. So, what’s happened, and why do the Leafs now find themselves paying more for their star talent than any other team in the league?



There’s a lot to unpack here, which is why we’re going to break this down into a few different areas. But let’s start by stating what’s becoming more and more obvious:



The Leafs overpaid for Marner



Let’s look at the three most logical player comparables from the RFA class of 2019, and what they signed for with their...