Mitch Marner opens up about his 'dark times' in Toronto

Mitch Marner is cast as a villain in Toronto. The former Maple Leafs winger left his hometown team despite being offered the biggest contract extension in team history, and decided to go down an easier path playing for the Vegas Golden Knights.

He most recently appeared in the Stanley Cup Final -- which he, of course, lost -- and during an emotional post-game interview after punching the Knights' ticket to the Final, he referenced some "dark times in hockey" that he had. He was then asked to elaborate, to specifically mention what he meant about those dark times and possibly if it was when he was playing for the Leafs.

Besides from never getting anything more than a couple playoff series wins and facing the pressure of not winning, Marner was still able to get the specific contract he wanted while playing for his favourite team. So, what specifically did he mean? Was it just those playoff losses that were piling up?

Well, now we know at least a little bit more.

Mitch Marner talks about his "dark times in hockey" after losing Stanley Cup Final

During the media availability the Golden Knights held after losing to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, Marner was asked to elaborate about those previous comments that he made.

"When I said that, I think -- mental health is a super important thing to me, it really is. I've been really trying to take care of my mental health, probably for the last five years or so. I'm really thankful that I had some unbelievable teammates around me in Toronto that I was able to talk to, express myself. Again, like I said my family, my brother, my mom, dad, my wife -- there were some really dark moments there that the thought of playing hockey was really tough in a lot of ways," Marner said.

"It was just a dark kind of vibe, a dark hole in a way. And I'm very thankful, like I said, that I had people around me, teammates, that asked me how I was doing and knew that I was going through something, that I could talk to.

"I just think it's really important to always check in on your friends, your family, people around you, your mental health. I think it's just a thing that in this day and age that gets talked about but still overlooked in a lot of ways. I think a lot of us are addicted to the social media aspect of things. You've seen a lot of comments, seeing a lot of things about yourself, I think, you know, I try to check myself out of that the last two or three years. Really just try to get off of it, try to get away from it. I think that's really helped in a lot of ways.

"You've got to be able to talk about it, too. People want you around. That's what I always say. People want you in their life. You should never be afraid to talk about your emotions or talk about your fears or what you're going through."

Fair play. It's the typical poison that is social media at times.

There have been reports of some Leafs fans being extremely nasty to Marner online during his time in Toronto, getting the star winger to read some horrific messages after the Leafs would lose another playoff series and go another year without winning the Stanley Cup. That is inexcusible from any fan base and most likely got to the player.

Is Marner now completely excused from leaving the Leafs high and dry while he already had year-long plans to end up going to Vegas in free agency? No, he is not. Since now the Leafs are rudderless and potentially going into another rebuild because of that decision to just walk away from the team for nothing.

It is extremely unfortunate that social media and other factors caused these dark times for Marner, and now we just wish there was a better ending.

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