New Comments From Mitch Marner Confirm Fans Responsible For His Departure From Maple Leafs

The end of Mitch Marner's tenure in Toronto was controversial to say the least.

Although Marner agreed to a sign and trade with Vegas and helped the Leafs recoup an asset in Nicolas Roy, fans were still bitter about another disappointing post-season, the rejected trade to Carolina for Mikko Rantanen and unwillingness to sign an extension.

When he joined the Vegas Golden Knights, the former first-round pick shared that things began to go south for him a couple of seasons ago when rumours of a potential trade first started to appear.

The 28-year-old joined other Team Canada hopefuls in Calgary on Wednesday for their orientation camp and team building activities that included a round of golf.

Prior to playing some golf, Marner spoke with TSN's Mark Masters to discuss the upcoming Olympic Games, his relationship with top Leafs prospect Easton Cowan and his return to Toronto in January.

In speaking with Masters, Marner admitted that despite what he did, and how much praise or love from Leafs Nation got, the negative comments on social media often overpowered it all.

Masters also shared that Marner had to hire security to patrol his home for almost 2 weeks after the end of the post-season due to the amount of negativity online.

While his tenure in Toronto didn't end on the greatest of terms with Leafs Nation, Marner admitted that the NHL screwed up the scheduling of his return to Toronto putting the game on the end of a back-to-back as he would have preferred to 'have a day at home'.

Scheduled to return on January 23rd, many expect the former Maple Leafs star to be welcomed by a chorus of boos, but time heals all wounds, as they say, and the reception for the Selke Trophy nominee could be warmer than expected. We'll have to wait and see.