The Toronto Maple Leafs parted ways with Mitch Marner by sending him to the Vegas Golden Knights in a last-minute sign-and-trade and for him to live out the rest of his NHL career in Nevada with zero pressure and minimal fanfare – or did they?
At this time of the offseason, teams are just tidying up loose ends before training camp starts next month. It’s looking what else is out there in terms of low-risk unrestricted free agents, seeing where prospects are going to spend their upcoming years to get the best development, and signing restricted free agents.
On Tuesday, the Maple Leafs announced that they have signed restricted free agent defenseman William Villeneuve to a one-year, two-way contract. The 23-year-old has had a solid year with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, scoring four goals and a career-high 40 points in just 55 games from the blue line.
But when the signing was announced, Leafs fans had to do a double-take. Did they just sign Marner?
We’ve signed defenceman William Villeneuve to a one-year, two-way contract extension pic.twitter.com/z2mCHnSdAT
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) August 5, 2025
No, that possibly can’t be him, right? It caused a whole whack of fans to try and take a closer look.
Mitch Marner sent his body double to Vegas and changed his name to William Villeneuve. 200 IQ.#LeafsForever https://t.co/27S6cG3hJ4
— Nealer (@Nealerrr) August 5, 2025
close enough, welcome back mitch marner https://t.co/O2XtQxFX5B pic.twitter.com/0fWhESfnMQ
— din (@klooowry) August 5, 2025
Maybe it’s just the picture – because in reality, the two don’t look a lot alike other than being slightly undersized boyish hockey players – but it really does look like the Leafs’ graphics team just used a photo of Marner. It also doesn’t help that Villeneuve has worn No. 76 with the big club and it looks too much like Marner’s old No. 16 with the way this on-ice action shot was taken.
Aside from looking uncanny to the former Leafs star, Villeneuve does have an important season ahead of him. With the noncommittal contract of just one year and a two-way deal, the young blueliner should use this season to try and show that he can lead the Marlies’ defense to maybe get a look up in the NHL if things break his way.
The Marlies blue line is going to be a young one with Noah Chadwick coming in to make his professional debut and other mid-20’s players like Cade Webber and Villeneuve. The only veterans will be Marshall Rifai, Dakota Mermis, and Matt Benning. So, we’ll see how that goes.
Maybe Villeneuve can use some of that Marner lookalike magic and put up a point per game.