Auston Matthews has something to say about Mitch Marner’s Stanley Cup run

The Toronto Maple Leafs were visiting the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night and even if it has been over a year since it happened, it of course means one thing: Asking the team about Mitch Marner and seeing him on the other side.

Before puck drop, in what was eventually a disheartening 4-3 shootout loss to the Golden Knights, Matthews was asked about how it felt to see Marner on the other side once again and more specifically, how it felt to see Marner go out and experience some immediate success in Vegas. Did it feel weird to see him go on a trip to the Stanley Cup Final and lead the playoffs in scoring in the process?

"Personally, as a friend, I was happy for him. We still keep in touch. Great person, great teammate, great friend. Personally, I was really happy for him," Matthews said.

Marner and the Golden Knights somewhat shocked the hockey world on their way to the Final. Their most difficult competition proved to be in the first round against the Utah Mammoth. They shooed away the Anaheim Ducks in six games and then swept the Colorado Avalanche like they were nothing. On top of that, Marner led the entire postseason with 29 points and the next-best player was linemate Jack Eichel with just 22.

Maybe it was everyone hoping for a soundbite that could be driven into the ground and make us panic about Matthews' future in Toronto for another couple months, but it is simply some good feelings seeing a friend achieve some success. It might sting a little bit that it's not with the Maple Leafs and on Matthews' wing, but there are a whole lot of reasons why that didn't happen and we don't need to go all doom and gloom about the past for the umpteenth time.

We already think about "What ifs?" enough in our Leafs fandom. We don't need to do it in the middle of a fairly good start by our Maple Leafs.

Auston Matthews is moving on and so did the Maple Leafs

It might have taken over a year to get over him, but the Leafs feel more than moved on from Mitch Marner at this point. After the disastrous 2025-26 season we all experienced, there is new hope in Leafsland. No more whining about what's going on over there or wondering what could have been if Marner either re-signed with the Leafs or actually waved his no-movement clause to set Toronto up with a winger like Mikko Rantanen for the next decade.

Either way, now with Gavin McKenna on the team and looking like a player with increasingly higher potential, Easton Cowan coming into his own, Kirill Marchenko here and blowing defenses back, and the rest of the gang doing as expected, it feels good. Especially since Matthews himself is back to his Hart Trophy-winning caliber of play, pulling the entire team in all three zones and leading them to some solid play.

The results might not be there quite yet and mistakes like letting the Golden Knights come back after having a 3-0 lead in the first period, are still to be ironed out, but there is hope.

In this pivotal season, the Leafs have started with a 2-2-1 record and have a chance to add another win to it on Saturday night when they face the Colorado Avalanche.

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