Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving and director of amateur scouting Mark Leach met with the media on Thursday at the Ford Performance Centre.

Mitch Marner still has a stall in the dressing room at the Leafs' practice facility, but the team is preparing for life without the star winger.

"We've had communication," said general manager Brad Treliving. "Unless there’s a significant change here, I would anticipate that he’s going to hit the market, and we’ll see where things go."

The franchise's fifth-leading scorer is set to become an unrestricted free agent on Tuesday. A decade after being picked fourth overall by Toronto, Marner appears poised to leave his hometown team.

Asked about his top priority in free agency, Treliving initially said, "With Mitch going," before quickly adding, "If Mitch is going, then everything that he does."

Marner does a lot. He is coming off a career-best 102-point season. The 28-year-old led the team's forwards in average ice time (21:19). A Selke Trophy nominee two years ago, Marner plays in every situation and faces top opposition nightly.

"There's not a Mitch Marner tree that you go to and just replace him," Treliving admitted.

"You're trying to make your team better, and the potential's there to lose a very good player so lots of challenges but, you know, we try to look at it as use those as opportunities as well, right. So that's the job."

The opportunity, Treliving says, is salary cap space. The Leafs currently have........

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