In 2015, when Mitch Marner was drafted fourth overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs, his head coach, Mike Babcock, didn’t want him. Babcock wanted a defenseman, like Noah Hanifin or Ivan Provorov, after the team’s brutal 68-point campaign in 2014-15. But general manager Lou Lamoriello ignored his coach’s wishes and selected the hometown kid. Marner quickly made his mark, becoming the team’s next star.
Alongside Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and John Tavares, the ‘core four’ era had begun. The future looked bright, and it wasn’t a matter of when they’d win a Stanley Cup; it was a matter of how many. The pressure only grew from there. Marner blossomed into one of the league’s best wingers. His 94-point season in 2018-19 made him the first Maple Leaf in over 20 years to reach that mark.
Life was good in Toronto. Marner was good in Toronto. Then, things started to unravel. Piece by piece, a divorce was coming, whether the Leafs and Marner wanted it or not. Marner’s joy for the game waned. The team explored trading him at last season’s March 7 deadline, but Marner blocked it.
Related: Golden Knights Land Mitch Marner From Maple Leafs in Sign-and-Trade for Nicolas Roy
“We’re aligned with Mitch. We’re worried about this season, we’re worried about the games we have coming up. We want Mitch here for a long time,” Treliving said after a game in Utah last season. “It’s not a distraction… but it’s just not a question we’re going to get into every day.”
After another disappointing playoff exit, this time to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in the Second Round, questions swirled about Marner’s future in Toronto. Those questions have now been answered. Marner is officially a Vegas Golden Knight, a move that isn’t a surprise. This move was inevitable, a perfect fit that’s been quietly building for more than a year.
The Golden Knights’ 2024 Offseason
The 2024 NHL Playoffs ended in disappointment for Vegas. They had just acquired both Tomáš Hertl and Hanifin at the trade deadline, only to fall flat to the Dallas Stars in seven games in Round 1. This is where the possibility of Marner becoming a Golden Knight started to float. On 32 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman, in late May, suggested that the two teams had discussed a trade, but nothing ever came close.
“I do believe, on some level, last year, that the Maple Leafs and Vegas talked about a trade,” Friedman…
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