Las Vegas winger Mitch Marner sheds Toronto playoff stink with stellar postseason performance
Things didn’t end well in Toronto for superstar winger Mitch Marner.
Few things “end well” between a franchise and its overpriced, underperforming talent, but the final chapters of the Marner-Maple Leafs saga were particularly caustic.
You can probably attribute most of this to the Toronto media, which is as toxic as it gets when it comes to North American sports, but Marner wasn’t exactly blameless.
Toronto Maple Leafs right winger Mitch Marner skates during warm-ups ahead of their game against the Detroit Red Wings at Scotiabank Arena. (Nick Turchiaro/Imagn Images)
His regular season point totals were among the best in the league, but his playoff performances at crucial moments were the subject of much scrutiny, so much so that most hockey fans thought a change of scenery was all Marner needed to unlock his postseason potential.
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Marner, who is just nine games into the first postseason south of the Canadian border, is improving upon his “arrival” in the Las Vegas Golden Knights’ 6-2 rout of the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
This is Marner’s first career playoff hat-trick, but it’s even crazier than that.
The 29-year-old previously played in 70 career playoff games as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs and recorded just two multi-goal games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
He won two of his nine playoff games with the Golden Knights.
The most Marner had scored during the offseason before coming to Sin City was three goals, and it’s clear that he only matched those goals in Friday’s game.
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs talk during the first period against the Tampa Bay Lightning in game seven of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on May 14, 2022. (Mark Blinch/NHLI/Getty Images)
Whichever way you look at it, Marner is exorcising his entire career’s playoff demons in just one year.
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Given that the Golden Knights are in a familiar spot for Marner, the question will be whether he can find more team success in the postseason with his new club.
His time in Toronto was notoriously marred by the simple fact that the Leafs failed to advance past the second round of the playoffs.
With a 2-1 series lead over the Ducks, Vegas is just a few wins away from showing off its final, never-seen-before addition to the postseason: the Conference Finals.
The sky may be the limit for Marner and the Golden Knights team.
With the big bad bully in the Western Conference bloc, the Edmonton Oilers, being sent home early from the big dance and Marner’s stellar play, Vegas was able to find its way back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since winning it three seasons ago.
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Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Edmonton Oilers in the third period of game two of the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev., on May 8, 2025. (Stephen R. Sylvanie/Imagn Images)
It’s been a perfect marriage between Marner and the Golden Knights so far, and it doesn’t hurt that the Toronto Maple Leafs are so bruising in their first season without the man they ran out of town that they’re now in a position to draft another future star (Gavin McKenna) to swallow big prospects.
For God’s sake, Gavin.
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If things get bad enough for you, you can always move on to greener pastures and revive your career.
If it worked for Marner, it might work for you too.
