Mitch Marner’s tenure with the Maple Leafs came to an end on Monday, with Toronto agreeing to a sign-and-trade deal that sends the star winger to the Vegas Golden Knights just a day before he was set to hit the market as an unrestricted free agent.

Marner proceeded to sign a mammoth eight-year, US$96-million deal (worth $12 million in AAV) with the Golden Knights, ending the 28-year-old’s nine-year stint with his hometown team in unspectacular fashion.

By agreeing to a sign-and-trade, both team and player were able to get an extra year out of the deal as UFAs can only sign for a maximum of seven seasons, per the current collective bargaining agreement, while a team can re-sign a rostered player for up to eight years.

On Tuesday morning, Marner posted a heartfelt “goodbye” to the team, city and fanbase on his Instagram account:

As part of the deal, the Maple Leafs receive centre Nicolas Roy — a quality bottom-six pivot — in return. The six-foot-four, Amos, Quebec product posted 15 goals and 16 assists in 71 games last season with Vegas. The 28-year-old has one year left on his contract with a cap hit of $3 million.

As a sound defensive player, Roy gives the Leafs a right-handed shot down the middle (something the team hasn’t had recently), and can chip in offensively, too, averaging .46 points per game in just 14:56 of ice time per night over his career. He also brings a bit of playoff pedigree to the Maple Leafs lineup, winning the Stanley Cup with Vegas in 2022-23 while posting 11 points during that run and putting up positive postseason metrics throughout his playoff career.

As nice of a player as Roy is, he is no Mitch Marner, at least from an offensive and star-power standpoint. The Leafs are bidding farewell to one of the most productive, skilled, and dynamic players NHL-wide since he came into the league and a perennial 90-100 point regular-season player, which will be nearly impossible to replace, at least on paper.

Marner fans glumly hit social media to bid farewell to one of their “favourites of all time” when news of the transaction broke on Monday evening.

buddy the LEAFS will regret this deeply and so will the fans that ran him out give me a break https://t.co/qWhNWGPVKu

— sar | mitch marner defense attorney (@malkinsmarner) June 30, 2025

Not much new to say about Marner, but here goes:
1. He’s pretty inarguably one of the 5 best Leafs of my lifetime
2. Like all the other Leafs stars in this era, he fell well short of expectations in the postseason
3. It’s fair to point #2 out
4. We’re a worse team without him

— Arvi (@arvi) July 1, 2025

Marner, selected fourth overall by his hometown Leafs in 2015, spent the past nine seasons with Toronto. He posted over a point-per-game with 741 points in 657 regular-season games (1.13 PPG) and was much worse production-wise during playoff career with the Leafs, putting up 63 points in 70 postseason contests (0.9 PPG).

His time with the club, however was marred by postseason disappointments and failures, especially recently as the team suffered a pair of soul-crushing, 6-1 losses on home ice to the Florida Panthers in Games 5 and 7 of their second-round series this past spring. In those two games, along with Toronto’s Game 4 loss in the same series, Marner put up zero points and was a combined minus-4 in those games.

Despite plenty of regular-season success, Toronto’s highly-paid core of Auston Matthews, John Tavares, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly and Mitch Marner were able to get out of the first round of the playoffs just twice in eight seasons together, while losing all six of the team’s winner-take-all games over that time.

With that said, plenty — fairly or unfairly — of fans are happy to see him go despite the regular-season triumphs as the city starves for its first title since 1967.

The legacy Mitch Marner leaves behind in Toronto is abysmal.

He got the keys to the car and drove it straight into the ditch…

Never won. Never cared. Never worked. Good riddance. Goodbye.

— Rad Treliving (@MapleLeaves34) June 30, 2025

If Marner ever does play a game for Vegas in Toronto, I would retire Darcy Tucker’s #16 and make Mitch watch.

— Josh Shiaman (@JoshShiaman) July 1, 2025

For every like of this tweet I will name 10 better hockey players than Mitch Marner

— 🎱🇵🇭🥭 (@HoodiTrece) June 29, 2025

It makes me laugh hearing ppl say Marner deserved better 😂😂

This CITY deserved better. The FANS deserved better. He made his money, got his personal accolades. This TEAM deserved more effort, more tenacity and flat out give a shit when the going got tough. Good riddance.

— Fulton Reed (@FultonReed6) July 1, 2025

Marner went from being one of my favourite Toronto athletes ever to me being thankful he’s no longer a Leaf.

Glad this saga is over, and we don’t need to deal with his toxic camp anymore.

Squandered an opportunity to be immortalized as a hero in his hometown. https://t.co/hWIS8TQD3W

— A (@_knilanderthews) June 30, 2025

Fair or not, it wasn’t just the lack of on-ice production in big moments that rubbed a lot of the fanbase the wrong way, either. Back in 2019, under former general Manager Kyle Dubas, Marner forced the team’s hand and got every penny he could, resulting in a contract worth $10.9-million per year — unheard of for a mostly unproven winger. Now, that’s certainly more on the team and GM for caving more than it is the player, but the seemingly tense negotiations left a sour taste in many fans’ mouths and buried Marner in expectations that were basically impossible to live up to.

In what was the final nail in the coffin for a lot fans and their attitude toward the once beloved star, Marner reportedly declined to waive his no-trade clause for a potential deal to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for superstar Mikko Rantanen. Looking back, it seems pretty obvious that Marner was planning to test the open market the entire time — especially after it was reported that Marner turned down a hefty eight-year contract extension deal offered to him during last season that would’ve been the biggest deal in franchise history.

Those optics of it all were hard to digest for plenty of fans.

Mitch Marner really took less than he could’ve gotten to play for Vegas after grinding his hometown team for every possible dollar in the last 2 contract negotiations.

He is so not cut out to be a Maple Leaf and I wish him nothing but the worst in Vegas.

— Buds All Day (@BudsAllDayCast) June 30, 2025

As the Mitch Marner era comes to an end, let’s take this moment to reflect on the endless success and special moments that defined his time with the Leafs. pic.twitter.com/4sHWDRs43o

— Yamz. (@MapleGlazed_) June 30, 2025

The funniest possible outcome would be Marner signing the eight-year extension, then immediately invoking his NMC so the Leafs can’t send him to Vegas after all.

Pulls off his Leaf jersey at the press conference to reveal a second, identical Leaf jersey.

— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) June 30, 2025

The last 6 years for Mitch Marner included:
A holdout
Threats to go to 🇨🇭
Hiring a security guy to argue with fans
8 playoff goals
Costing the team Rantanen
Crying in the penalty box
Never once admitting he had shitty playoffs
Somehow feeling like THEY wronged HIM#LeafsForever

— corey landsberg (@coreylandsberg) June 30, 2025

So Marner wouldn’t engage w the Leafs all year cause he had a back room deal w Vegas as of last summer.

That’s some sneaky business from a sneaky player and a sneaky agent.

— Fish (@feedthefish79) June 30, 2025

Honestly, if Marner spoke this way even once or twice in the past five years or so, the perception of him probably would’ve been a lot different. https://t.co/9bu6WF5zwx

— Michael Amato (@amato_mike) July 1, 2025

You won’t hear many admit it, but Tavares taking a discount helped get the Knies deal over the line. Once the leaders start doing it, everyone gets on board.

Just like how once Marner took Dubas to the cleaners, everyone else did too.

— Logan (@logopatt) June 30, 2025

Love him or hate him, No. 16’s legacy from a production and popularity standpoint is hard to deny.

Marner’s 221 goals and 520 assists during his time with the Leafs rank him fifth on the team’s all-time scoring list, behind only legends Mats Sundin, Darryl Sittler, Dave Keon and Borje Salming.

Marner also had the Maple Leafs’ second-highest selling jersey of the “Core 4” era, just after Auston Mathews.