Earlier this week, our very own Thomas Williams broke down the Mitch Marner interview heard around the world, talking about his last days with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it wasn't pretty.
You can watch the interview below, but in a nutshell, Marner was recieving death threats and by all accounts felt unsafe in the city that he grew up in. When things get this serious, it's very easy to see why Marner wanted to leave and join the Vegas Golden Knights.
🚨🎙️ Mitch Marner on his departure from Toronto and how, especially in his last few weeks as a Leaf, things like his address getting leaked and d*ath threats being sent to him affected him and his family:
— Leafslatest (@Leafslatest) August 29, 2025
“Obviously, Game 1 and 2 went amazing against Florida… Game 3 to 5 went… pic.twitter.com/dXuUegztF7
I'm going to assume that Marner was telling the truth during his interview and if that's the case, I feel sick as a Leafs fan. If you're an adult and you find it neccesary to even threat about going to a hockey players house because he played a bad game, you're a loser. It's okay to be passionate and hope your team wins, but when the game is over, that's where it needs to stop.
I find it crazy that the fans seemingly put the entire blame on Marner, when at the end of the day, it wasn't just his fault. The entire team didn't pull their weight and they didn't deserve to win the series, but how do those actions help as a Leafs fan?
If you're a die-hard Leafs fan, you understand how "crazy" the fans and media can get here, which sometimes makes it harder to attract free agents, so why would we turn on the one player who grew up a Leafs fan and has lived here his entire life? It's such a gross way to behave and it's disgusting if it's true.
Leafs fans should be ashamed of their actions
As previously mentioned, I have no problem with fans booing players during a game or even throwing a jersey on the ice, but again that's where I draw the line. Any actions above and beyond that are sick and should not be condoned.
So with that being said, if I'm a free agent looking to come to Toronto, why would I want to play here if this is how I'll get treated if we lose? There are some city's that players get treated like God's when they don't even make the playoffs, so why is the fandom even more mad when they finally make it to the second round?
If this is the type of stuff that will happen when the team loses in the second round, what would happen if they lost in the Stanley Cup Finals? It could be like Vancouver 2011 all over again, with riots, yet probably worse.
Hockey players are just humans, who are just way more atheltic and rich than all of us, and although that may make us jealous, we can't turn on them when they don't win. Playing in Toronto is supposed to be an amazing opportunity because there's no other fanbase with this much passion, but that passion can't turn into rage.
When the passion is turned into rage, it doesn't become fun anymore, but instead becomes personal and that's not right. Being a hockey fan is supposed to be a fun thing we root for, but if this becomes common practice, don't expect any free agents to sign in Toronto anytime soon and for that Stanley Cup drought to get close to the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs territory.