Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews speaks to the media in Toronto on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
September 17, 2025 - 9:53 AM
TORONTO — The Maple Leafs are moving ahead without Mitch Marner.
The star winger bolted the team he cheered on as a kid for the Vegas Golden Knights in the off-season following nine campaigns in Toronto.
Leafs captain Auston Matthews says he and Marner had a "tough" conversation when the latter informed his teammate he would be moving on, but added the pair will remain lifelong friends as training camp opened Wednesday.
Matthews, meanwhile, says he's feeling "really good" after being hampered by a lingering upper-body injury most of last season — a campaign that saw his goal total drop from 69 to 33 compared to 2023-24.
Toronto head coach Craig Berube enters his second camp minus last season's leading scorer, but has three new forwards in Nicolas Roy — acquired from Vegas in the sign-and-trade deal for Marner — Matias Maccelli and Dakota Joshua.
The Leafs are also without a team president for the first time in more than a decade after Brendan Shanahan's contract wasn't renewed following last spring's second-round playoff collapse.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2025.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2025