It’s now been over a year since the Toronto Maple Leafs traded forward Mitch Marner in a blockbuster deal to the Vegas Golden Knights, and both organizations couldn’t have had a more polar opposite 2025-26 season.
With the Golden Knights, Marner found himself in the conversation for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, helping Vegas reach the Stanley Cup Final before they were eventually defeated by the Carolina Hurricanes.
Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs missed the playoffs, and went through an extensive housecleaning under new general manager John Chayka, and entered this current season with a vastly different coaching staff, front office, and a new-look roster.
Auston Matthews, who is back and fully healthy after missing several games last season, recent went on record on how his current relationship with Marner is.
Auston Matthews Comes Clean On Current Relationship With Former Toronto Maple Leafs Teammate Mitch Marner
Before the Maple Leafs faced Marner and the Golden Knights earlier this month, Matthews revealed that he still keeps in touch with his former teammate and was happy to see his playoff success in Vegas.
“Personally as a friend, I was happy for him,” Matthews said of Marner’s run to the Stanley Cup Final earlier in the spring. “We still keep in touch a lot. He’s a great person, great teammate, great friend. It’ll be nice to see him tonight.”
So far this season, Marner has scored twice while adding nine assists in 10 games played, once again putting up the points at just over a point-per-game pace.
Meanwhile, Matthews looks more like his old self, having already tallied six goals in nine games, a 55-goal pace over a full season.
Mitch Marner Revealed “Dark Days” With Maple Leafs
Not long after the Stanley Cup Final concluded, Marner revealed that he had been living through some “dark” times while with the Maple Leafs.
“There were some really dark moments there, that the thought of playing hockey was just really tough, honestly, in a lot of ways,” Marner said. “Just a dark kind of vibe, a dark hole in a way.”
“I think when you’re in that mental blender, it puts a lot of stress on your body, on your mind,” Marner said. “You’re up a lot of nights thinking about how you can be better and change things. You should never be afraid to talk about your emotions and talk about your fears and what you’re going through.
“I’m super thankful that I had a lot of people in my life that I could talk to and share things. It made me better.”
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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