NHL Trades and Rumors
Maple Leafs Refuse to Blame Loss of Mitch Marner for Down Year
The Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t pointing to the loss of Mitch Marner for their poor 2025–26 season.
On the same night the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 2025–26 season mercifully came to an end with a seventh straight loss, Mitch Marner scored the game-winning goal to secure the Vegas Golden Knights the No. 1 seed in the Pacific Division.
Marner’s first year out of Toronto took some getting used to for both sides. The Maple Leafs struggled to fill out their top-six all year long, while Marner’s production dipped under the point-per-game threshold (80 points in 81 games) for the first time since 2017–18.
It’s still too early to decide who the move will ultimately favor; however, it is safe to say that 2025–26 was far more enjoyable for Marner. His former team struggled mightily without him and still hasn’t replaced his skillset and production. Despite that, head coach Craig Berube was still not willing to peg his departure as a reason for finishing 28th in the league.
“You’re going to miss a player of his calibre. Every team, if they lose a guy like that, will miss him. At the same time, that is not the reason this season happened,”
The 28-year-old Marner was dealt from Toronto to Vegas in a sign-and-trade for Nicolas Roy this summer before inking an eight-year, $96 million contract with the Golden Knights.
Did the Maple Leafs Miss Mitch Marner?
While the numbers weren’t up to his typical standards, Marner still would have led the Maple Leafs in scoring, demonstrating his consistency and availability—something their other star players struggled with in particular this season.
Most fans won’t want to admit that losing Marner had any impact on the way this year played out, but it truly is impossible to brush it off as if nothing happened, even if a parting of ways was long overdue for both the player and the team.
Would Toronto have made the playoffs if they kept Marner around? Maybe not, but before they fell apart post-Olympics, the Maple Leafs were still right in the mix for the postseason. So, if they had a point-per-game, defensively responsible superstar winger who had incredible chemistry with their best and most important player—Auston Matthews—it’s hard to imagine they wouldn’t have been in a better position.
Next: Matthews, Knies, Rielly Talk Future with Maple Leafs as Berube Waits
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