For the first time since he broke into the NHL in 2016, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews will enter training camp without Mitch Marner on the team’s roster.Dan Hamilton/Reuters
Craig Berube found a silver lining in the departure of Mitch Marner.
“What excites me is that I don’t have to hear about the Core Four anymore,” the Maple Leafs’ head coach said Wednesday as players gathered for their annual physical exams.
Training camp officially begins on Thursday in Toronto and Las Vegas, where Marner is expected to play on the first line beside Jack Eichel. For the better part of a decade the Core Four had been Auston Matthews, Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares.
They were certainly a talented bunch, but advanced past the first round of the playoffs only twice.
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“All of us would love to have a different outcome from seasons past,” Matthews, the team captain, said. “There is nothing we can do about that now. Everybody obviously tried their best.”
For a team that proclaims that it has already turned the page on Marner, the Maple Leafs talked more about him than anything else on their day for medicals.
The club hoped to re-sign the skilled right wing, who would have become an unrestricted free agent following the 2025-2026 campaign. Instead, he sought a trade and was dealt to the Golden Knights.
“We are moving forward,” general manager Brad Treliving said. “We wish Mitch the best, but our focus is on our team.”
Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving says his team is moving forward following the departure of star winger Mitch Marner.Cole Burston/The Canadian Press
Marner spent nine seasons as Matthews’s right-hand man and had 27 goals and a career-high 102 points during his final year in Toronto. Those are difficult numbers to replace.
Max Domi and newcomer Matias Maccelli are the most likely candidates to replace Marner on the right side of Toronto’s top line. Matthew Knies is the No. 1 left wing.
A handful of forwards were brought in with the hope that they can fill gaps in the lineup. They include Travis Boyd, Dakota Joshua, Maccelli, Michael Pezzetta and Nicolas Roy. Between them they had 30 goals and 33 assists last season.
More will be expected from Nicholas Robertson, if he makes it through the next few weeks without being traded.
“The core part of our team is still here from last season,” Matthews said. “I’ve been trying to welcome everyone new and make sure they are comfortable and that they know how excited all of us are to have them join us. I’m excited to see what they bring to the table.”
Easton Cowan, a 20-year-old right wing, is most likely the only rookie with even a slight chance to crack the lineup.
“We’re excited to get going,” Treliving said. “It has been a long summer and we’ve had some changes. There are opportunities. There will be competition.
“Whether a player is 20 or 35, if they can help us win we won’t care what their birth certificate says.”
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube joked that at least he doesn’t have to hear about the Core Four anymore, now that Mitch Marner has left the team.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Toronto’s first exhibition game is Sunday against Ottawa at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Maple Leafs will play host to the Senators in their first home game on Tuesday. The regular season begins Oct. 8 when the Montreal Canadiens visit Scotiabank Arena.
There were a few other minor orders of business announced on Wednesday: Domi will sit out the team’s first practice session and is considered day to day due to a lower-body injury; contract negotiations with goalie Anthony Stolarz are progressing but he is yet to be signed and, the organization has not expressed interest in signing any of the five players who were recently acquitted of sexual abuse in the Hockey Canada trial.
Beyond that, it was clear that the player who is no longer here was front of mind.
“You get to know someone and become friends but people make choices,” Morgan Rielly, the veteran defenceman, said of Marner. “As teammates and players you have to just carry on.
“We have a new challenge now. Guys leave all the time. Mitch was a polarizing figure because of how talented he was, but for us it’s onward.”
Matthews is the most likely player to miss Marner. He was the Sundance Kid to Matthews’s Butch Cassidy.
“Those are always tough conversations,” Matthews said when asked how he felt when Marner told him he was going to leave. “You are teammates and also friends and he’ll be a friend of all of us for life.”