Toronto is one of the best sports cities in the world. The fans are extremely passionate about all of their teams, though nothing compares to hockey and the Maple Leafs.
The support from the fanbase never wavers despite the team’s 57-year Stanley Cup drought, but there can also be plenty of negativity that stems from that losing, and sometimes it crosses the line.
In this era of Maple Leafs hockey, Mitch Marner, the hometown kid, was often the whipping boy for their playoff shortcomings. This year was more of the same, and the now Vegas Golden Knights winger opened up about the scary stuff he and his family had to deal with for weeks after losing in Game 7 of the second round to Florida last postseason.
Marner sat down with TSN’s Mark Masters on Thursday and shared details on the unfortunate situation.
“We lose Game 7 as we do, in a non-enjoyable way of all time, probably. You get home, you’re pretty disappointed, you’re pretty devastated at that. You know, the thought of it also being my last Maple Leaf game at home. And then I get a phone call probably about five or so minutes after from, I think it was, my wife’s father, called me and goes, “I just wanna let you know we’ve got people sending us screenshots of a guy posting your address online saying that if people wanna come pay us a visit and come say their goodbyes in a quotation way, here’s the address,” Marner said.
“It was a little tough, obviously. I mean, we kind of dealt with it for the last two years in a way. The market’s very passionate; they love this team. I mean, I know it; I was born and raised here. I’ve been a part of the Leafs Nation for a long time. But, when your family and safety come into question, especially having a new son, I don’t think it’s acceptable. Having full-time security pretty much at your house for two weeks after the playoffs just to make sure no one’s coming over to the house. Also the safety-wise of trying to walk your dog and your child. So, it was a little unfortunate, but yeah, we all deal with this stuff; sometimes it happens,” Marner added.
Marner, who was a pending UFA, was, of course, traded to Vegas for Nicolas Roy just prior to the start of free agency before signing an eight-year, $96 million contract with the Golden Knights.
It was time for Marner to move on from Toronto
A parting of ways between Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs was long overdue.
For years, every time the Maple Leafs would fall flat in the playoffs, Marner would take a ton of heat and surface in trade rumors throughout the summer. Ultimately, nothing ever happened, and they would run back the same core group time after time, leading to the exact same result.
It’s not ideal for the team to have lost Marner for almost nothing as a free agent in a last-minute sign-and-trade, but change was necessary, and both sides could benefit from it moving forward.
