Ex-Toronto Maple Leafs star Marner first thought of moving to Vegas at trade deadline
Toronto Maple Leafs fans got a bit of a shock seeing Mitch Marner in a new uniform on Tuesday.
Only a few hours after writing an emotional goodbye letter to the fanbase, the former Leafs star was in Nevada for his unveiling with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Marner joined the Golden Knights on an eight-year deal after agreeing to a sign-and-trade contract with the Leafs, taking him off the open market.
“I was very happy and very fortunate. We thought about going to free agency, but this is the place we wanted to be. We didn’t want to lose that opportunity. We wanted to join this hockey team,” Marner told the Vegas media in his introductory press conference.
Marner described Vegas as his “first destination,” though it’s hard to ever imagine a player joining a new team saying anything else.
Marner and his wife Stephanie welcomed their first son, Miles, into the world during the first round of the playoffs, who was on hand for the unveiling. But there was a chance that the Marner family would be moving shortly before his birth. At the trade deadline, Vegas was rumoured to be interested in a three-team trade that involved bringing Marner to Nevada, though he shut the move down at the time due to his no-trade clause.
“We weren’t really going to go somewhere that was maybe going to be a short stint. If we were going somewhere, it was somewhere to sign for an extension, raise our child there, and grow up there,” he added.
Marner had spent his whole career with the Leafs since being taken fourth overall in the 2015 draft. He put up a career-high 102 points in the regular season this past year, before following that up with 13 points in 13 playoff games. In 657 career games with the Leafs, he’s put up 221 goals and 520 assists.
Marner did admit that Vegas’ initial interest gave him the idea that it could be his next home.
“That is when we started thinking about it, but not overthinking it, I guess. At that time, I was still very committed to playing hockey in Toronto. I wanted to focus on just being there and finishing a job there,” Marner continued.
“Really, when the season ended, over the next two or three weeks, I sat down with my whole family and agent. We went through the discussions of what stuff could look like and how we can figure this out. Luckily enough, Vegas came with the deal on Friday.”
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