Auston Matthews answered a call he probably knew was coming.
His friend and teammate was on the line.
Matthews, captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, grew up alongside Mitch Marner in the NHL. The paired endured a lot together — sky-high expectations, regular-season success and plenty of playoff heartbreak.
Marner was about to tell his linemate their time together was up.
"Those are always tough conversations to have," Matthews said as the Leafs opened training camp Wednesday. "At the end of the day, he made his decision."
After nine seasons with the team he cheered on as a kid — the one that picked him No. 4 overall at the 2015 draft — Marner would be moving on.
The star winger's slow march out the door finally crystallized in late June with unrestricted free agency looming when Toronto worked out a sign-and-trade deal with the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Leafs inked Marner, who grew up in nearby Thornhill, Ont., and had a full no-movement clause over the final two seasons of his previous contract, to an eight-year, US$96-million pact before shipping him to Sin City for depth forward Nicolas Roy.
"It's challenging," Toronto defenceman Morgan Rielly said of seeing jersey No. 16 walk out the door. "You get to know someone, become friends with them … but people make choices, and as a player and as teammates up here, you have to just carry on."
Toronto head coach Craig Berube enters his second season in charge now minus Marner, but with three new forwards in Roy, potential top-6 option Matias Maccelli and the bruising Dakota Joshua.
"I'm excited to see where they fit in and how they look," said Berube, who will lead the first on-ice camp sessions Thursday. "It's a change. We all know that."
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The Leafs are also without a team president for the first time in more than a decade after Brendan Shanahan's contract wasn't renewed by an organization that has advanced in the post-season just twice in the NHL's salary cap era.
"You definitely take it personal," Toronto centre John Tavares said of that change and the ouster of former bench boss Sheldon Keefe in May 2024. "It means we didn't accomplish what our goals were."
Matthews, who turned 28 on Wednesday, scored 69 times in 2023-24 to secure his second Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the league's leading goal-scorer, but dropped down to just 33 last season as he dealt with a lingering upper-body injury.
"Health-wise, I'm feeling really good," he said. "I think I did a lot of things that put me in a position to come to training camp feeling really good."
Set to celebrate his 35th birthday over the weekend, Tavares had a bounce-back 2024-25 with 38 goals and 74 points before re-signing on a team-friendly deal that cuts his average annual value against the salary cap from $11 million to just under $4.4 million.
The Leafs topped the Atlantic Division last season with 103 points before besting the Ottawa Senators in six games.
They then went up 2-0 against the Florida Panthers before the defending Stanley Cup champions rallied to take a series that would go the distance — Toronto suffered consecutive 6-1 losses on home ice in Games 5 and 7 — before capturing their second straight title.
The Leafs were left to pick up the pieces, including coming to terms with the loss of Marner, who put up a team-high 102 points and was a key contributor on both special teams.
"We've turned the page, right?" Toronto general manager Brad Treliving said. "We're moving forward. We wish Mitch all the best, but our focus is on our team — not what was, it's what it is now."
One that no longer includes Marner.
"We have a new challenge," Rielly said. "Guys leave all the time … Mitch was a polarizing guy because of how talented he was.
"But for us, it's onward."
INJURY CONCERN
Max Domi likely won't be ready as a full participant Thursday after suffering a recent lower-body injury, but Treliving said the winger's issue is believed to be day-to-day.
SECOND CHANCE?
The five players acquitted in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial this summer in London, Ont., are suspended until Dec. 1, but will have the opportunity to sign with NHL teams on Oct. 15.
One of the players — centre Dillon Dube — was drafted by Treliving when he was GM of the Calgary Flames.
"You've got to be comfortable," Treliving said when asked about the calculus and weighing the potential scrutiny of adding any of the five. "Not only on the ice, but off the ice, and be familiar with history and background and all the rest of it. And in certainly that case, we would have to go through a process with everything that's happened.
"That really hasn't just been a focus of ours. Right now, we're trying to sort through the bodies we have."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2025.
