If things had gone according to plan for Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs, he would have been one of the most popular players in the history of the franchise. He could have been, anyway. Maybe he even should have been.
But as the Toronto faithful showed on Friday night when he made his first return visit as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights, there is still a lot of anger and frustration over the missed opportunity his time with the team represents.
Mitch Marner gets cold reception in return to Toronto
After spending the first nine years of his career with the Maple Leafs, Marner was made the scapegoat for the team’s continued postseason failings this offseason when he was sent to the Golden Knights in a sign-and-trade deal that significantly altered the makeup of the Maple Leafs’ core.
From a numbers standpoint, Marner was everything the Maple Leafs could have wanted from a No. 4 overall pick. He scored 221 goals, recorded 520 assists and tallied 741 points in 657 regular season games with the club. From the time he made his NHL debut at the start of the 2016-17 season, he was the eighth-leading point-producer in the league during his time as a Maple Leaf.
Add in the fact that he was a local product, having grown up in Toronto as a Maple Leafs fan, and it should have been a perfect match. But as the Maple Leafs fans showed on Friday, there is more bitterness than celebration about his return.
He was loudly booed during pregame warm-ups, when he first came on the ice for the game, and early on every single time he touched the puck.