Ex-Leafs Winger Mitch Marner Reveals When Plans to Join the Vegas Golden Knights Originated
Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski | Imagn images
After officially joining the Vegas Golden Knights on July 1st via sign-and-trade, Mitch Marner revealed when Vegas became his destination of choice.
Hours before free agency officially began on Tuesday, the NHL officially approved the sign-and-trade between the Vegas Golden Knights and Maple Leafs that saw Marner's 9-year tenure in Toronto come to a close.
During his introductory press conference on Tuesday, not only did Marner take some perceived parting shots at the Leafs, but also divulged when he initially sought Vegas to be his preferred destination.
"I think the day before the deadline, we were offered a trade to go somewhere elseThen we kind of heard that Vegas might be interested in doing a three-way deal. From what it sounded like, not much really progressed in terms of trying to work something out between the three teams. But that was the point where we really started talking, saying, 'It sounds like Vegas has interest in us, and we have interest in them.' So we started thinking about it seriously-but not overthinking it."
While Marner also explained that he was still very much focused on trying to help the Leafs win, you can't help but wonder if the possibility of playing for Vegas took away some of his focus and may have been an underlying factor in the Leafs' second round defeat at the hands of the Florida Panthers.
Although his legacy as a member of the Maple Leafs is heavily tarnished for the way he treated the Leafs this past season, he at least did right by the team in working with them on a sign-and-trade to let the Leafs recoup an asset they needed in right-handed center Nicolas Roy.
With the Marner saga officially closed, the Leafs can finally say they have changed the DNA and made significant changes to the roster. It'll be hard to replace Marner's production, but the hope is that the Leafs can find a way to do that in aggregate, since there are no available wingers who can replace Marner's production 1-for-1.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 2 | 3724 ANSWERS Ex-Leafs Winger Mitch Marner Reveals When Plans to Join the Vegas Golden Knights Originated Do you think Mitch Marner's thoughts of Vegas hindered his performance? | ||
| Yes | 1532 | 41.1 % |
| No | 1134 | 30.5 % |
| Kind of, but it was the same old story in the end | 1058 | 28.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
TRENDING NOW
