The Stanley Cup Final may have put Mitch Marner back in hockey’s spotlight, but the Vegas Golden Knights forward revealed that some of his toughest battles happened away from the rink. After the Golden Knights swept the Colorado Avalanche in the West Final on May 26, he alluded to going through “some dark times in hockey” at the Toronto Maple Leafs.

On Tuesday, June 16, he opened up about his comment. Danny Webster from the Las Vegas Review-Journal asked the 29-year-old to give context about his comment from three weeks ago, which he graciously answered at length.

“Mental health is a super important thing to me. It really is. I've been really trying to take care of my mental health probably for the last five years or so,” Marner said, per a video post on X from Webster. “I'm really thankful that I've had some unbelievable teammates around me in Toronto that I was able to talk to, express myself.”

While Marner didn’t name any of his Toronto teammates he spoke with about mental health, he did have quite the journey at the franchise before arriving in Vegas.

Marner left the Maple Leafs on July 1, 2025, to join the Golden Knights in a sign-and-trade deal worth $96 million for eight years. His comment about dark days and times can be traced back to his criticism while playing in Toronto for nine seasons from 2016 to 2025.

After being selected fourth overall in the 2015 NHL draft, Marner made 657 regular-season appearances for the Maple Leafs, scoring 741 points (221G / 520A). While he played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for each of the nine seasons with them, they never went past the second round.

His 63 points (13G / 50A) in 70 playoff games for the Maple Leafs weren’t quite up to the regular season numbers, and the fans were vocal about it.

“A lot of us are addicted to social media,” Marner said. “You see a lot of comments about yourself, a lot of things about yourself. I’ve been trying to check myself out of that for the last two or three years, really just try to get off there and try to get away from it. That's helped in a lot of ways. You have to be able to talk about it, too.”

While Marner didn’t tell the specific moments or incidents that made his mental health spiral at the Maple Leafs, he did mention the role of social media in it.

Marner reflected on the mental toll of his time in Toronto; his move to Vegas offered a fresh start, and his performances in his first season with the Golden Knights became a major talking point.

Mitch Marner’s Performance In His First Season At Vegas Golden Knights After Leaving Toronto Maple Leafs

In his first season after leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs, Mitch Marner didn’t just go past the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs but also made it to the final. He scored 80 points (24G / 56A) in 81 games in a quite impressive 2025-26 regular season with the Golden Knights, but his performance elevated in the playoffs.

Marner played 22 playoff games and registered 29 points (10G / 19A) in by far the best postseason of his career.

He also managed to put his name in the record books as the fastest hat-trick scorer in Stanley Cup Playoffs history. In Game 3 of the Cup Final against the Carolina Hurricanes, he scored three goals in just 6:10 minutes to eclipse the previous record of 6:21 minutes set by Maurice Richard.

While Marner wasn’t able to win the Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights, he will most definitely be a better player for it.

Will Marner win the Stanley Cup for the first time in his career with the Vegas Golden Knights? Share with us your prediction in the comments.

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Written by

Arjun Sharma

Edited by

Ankita Yadav