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Mitch Marner's Behavior at the 4 Nations Face-Off May Have Destroyed the Leafs' Locker Room
During the 4 Nations Face-Off, Mitch Marner was already plotting his escape to the Las Vegas Golden Knights, much to the chagrin of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Mitch Marner and the Las Vegas Golden Knights recently agreed to an eight-year deal worth $12 million per season. Of course, this was part of a sign-and-trade that sent Nicolas Roy to Toronto.
In the aftermath of the move, some Maple Leafs fans out there have been feeling betrayed by Marner. They feel as though the former Leaf did them dirty, and that he was plotting his move for months.
The superstar winger confirmed those concerns on Tuesday, when he had his introductory press conference with the Golden Knights.
Mitch Marner wanted to be a Las Vegas Golden Knight for a while
While speaking to reporters, Marner admitted that he was having conversations with Knights players Mark Stone and Adin Hill during the 4 Nations Face-Off.
They told him all about the lifestyle, and he seemed to be a big fan of what he was hearing. However, this all but confirms that he had been jonesing to leave Toronto for a very long time.
Stoney, and Hill at 4 Nations was awesome; not just me but my wife loved the living situation. From my side of things it was trying to win at the 4 Nations and knew they were great hard-working guys and it was pretty eye opening for me.
This kind of stuff travels fast across league circles, and one has to wonder if it ever infiltrated the Maple Leafs locker room and messed with morale. A report from Hockey Patrol seems to hint that this may have been the case.
Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and John Tavares have all been eerily quiet about Marner's departure from the team. Perhaps they are upset with how things ended.
Or, perhaps they are simply just private guys. Whatever the case may be, this is all very fishy, and Leafs fans do not appreciate the double-crossing.
Only time will tell whether or not the Marner era in Las Vegas turns out to be a success.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 3 | 664 ANSWERS Mitch Marner's Behavior at the 4 Nations Face-Off May Have Destroyed the Leafs' Locker Room Do you think Mitch Marner did right by the Toronto Maple Leafs? | ||
| YES | 214 | 32.2 % |
| NO | 450 | 67.8 % |
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