Vegas Golden Knights forward Mitch Marner opened up about his decision to block a trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Carolina Hurricanes at last season’s NHL trade deadline.
Towards the deadline, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving approached Marner about a trade to the Hurricanes in exchange for Mikko Rantanen, who, at the time, had just been traded to Carolina by the Colorado Avalanche.
Marner, however, declined the move (which was his right) and remained with Toronto for the rest of his contract. Following the Maple Leafs’ elimination by the Florida Panthers in the playoffs, Marner and his family convened to discuss his future.
Ultimately, the 28-year-old wanted a fresh start and opted for a sign-and-trade with the Golden Knights. Marner signed an eight-year, $96 million contract with Toronto before being shipped to Vegas in exchange for Nicolas Roy.
Amidst Team Canada’s Olympic orientation camp in Calgary, Alberta, last week, the forward spoke with NHL.com’s Derek Van Diest about why he blocked a trade to the Hurricanes at the trade deadline.
“The last two years there were a lot of rumors going on, a lot of different stuff swirling around. You didn’t know what was going to happen,” Marner said. “Then the whole Carolina thing comes up in the middle of the season. It’s a bit of an awkward one. My wife was six or seven months pregnant, we really didn’t want to be a deadline player.
“I would have had to leave and go back to Toronto because my wife wasn’t coming down with me, so I was moving into Carolina myself if I did that. The logistics of it and everything, it just didn’t make sense and then from that point on, we told [the Maple Leafs] we were committed to [Toronto] and we were going to play it all out.”
This was Marner’s second major interview at Canada’s Olympic camp. The forward also spoke with TSN’s Mark Masters and revealed that his address was leaked after the Panthers eliminated Toronto from the playoffs in May.
“We play Game 7 as we do in a non-enjoyable way of all time, probably. You get home, you're pretty disappointed, you're pretty devastated. The thought also that it was my last Maple Leaf game at home,” Marner said.
“And then I get a phone call probably about five or so minutes after from, I think it was my wife's father and goes, ‘I just want to let you know we've got people sending us screenshots of a guy posting your address online saying that if people want to come pay us a visit and say their goodbyes (in quotations), here’s the address.’ It was a little tough.”
The Maple Leafs drafted Marner with the fourth overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. Since then, the Markham, Ontario-born forward is fifth on the Maple Leafs’ franchise points list (221 goals and 741 points) and fifth all-time for playoff points with Toronto.
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