Mitch Marner no longer plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs so we need to stop talking about him.
I know that writing this article may be ironic because I'm saying we should stop talking about Mitch Marner, while talking about him, but we need to view Marner as the new Voldermort: "He who must not be named."
Since it's the middle of August, it's hard to find newstories about the Leafs so here we are. If you were unaware, William Nylander was asked about "he who must not be named" earlier this week and mentioned the following:
"I actually asked him during the season and he said he was concentrating on Toronto. I didn’t want to press him on that and let him be because it was obviously on his mind, but his play was focused on helping us. Then I asked him after the season and he wasn’t sure.” (via: TSN.ca)
All this quote shows me is that Nylander is a good teammate and he's not going to throw his former teammate under the bus, which is totally fine. Do you think he was seriously going to go to the media and say that the 5-foot-11 forward (see how I'm not saying his name) had his bags packed and was ready to leave?
Leafs media needs to stop talking about ex-player
For the past 10 years, the former London Knights star has been under the microscope and the pressure of playing in front of his friends and family every night clearly got to him. He's the type of player that is going to thrive in a new enviornment and I'd be shocked if he doesn't score 35 goals and register 110 points this season.
When we look forward to the 2025-26 Leafs season, we can't compare this team to the past. One player leaving is not going to make the difference in this team winning or losing a Stanley Cup because the same culture is still here. If the team went ahead and removed Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Nylander then we could talk about change, but this team is seemingly the same roster once again, so we already know what the future holds.
It's time for all of us to stop talking about "our ex" and it's time to move forward. The core-four may have lost one member, but that member leaving could be the best thing that ever happens, so let's wish him luck in Vegas and move on.