Mitch Marner faces Leafs for 1st time as Golden Knight

Vegas Golden Knights winger Mitch Marner will face his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, for the first time on Thursday, but according to the 28-year-old, it hasn’t been top of mind.

“I haven’t thought about it until right now,” said Marner following the Golden Knights’ 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday.

“Been trying to focus on our games. Focus on who we are playing, as our next opponent. I am sure on the plane ride home it’s going to hit more that it’s [Thursday] night. I don’t look at it any different; just as another hockey game.”

In a hockey market like Toronto, much has been made about Marner’s offseason departure, largely due to the Maple Leafs’ early-season struggles. Toronto, though, enters Thursday’s game on a better course of late, having gone 7-3 in its last 10 games, a stretch that includes one regulation loss.

“I have checked in with [Maple Leafs players] throughout the year. I am obviously very good buddies with a lot of them,” added Marner. “See how they’re doing, how their families are doing… I got really close with a lot of them there. They’re like brothers.”

Marner still racking up points in new digs

Drafted fourth overall in 2015, Marner was a foundational piece of Toronto’s rebuild, forming a long‑running partnership with Auston Matthews that defined the team’s offensive identity for nearly a decade.

Over nine seasons with the Leafs, he established himself as one of the NHL’s premier playmakers, consistently producing at or near a point‑per‑game pace and surpassing the 90‑point mark multiple times, including a career-high 102 regular-season points in 2024-25.

Marner’s departure came via a high‑profile sign‑and‑trade to Vegas over the summer that saw Toronto acquire Nicolas Roy. Marner then signed an eight-year, $96 million contract to land with the Golden Knights.

“We’re not gonna make a big thing (out of it),” Maple Leafs’ defenceman Morgan Rielly told The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel ahead of Thursday’s matchup with Vegas. “It’s not something we’re really talking about at all.”

The 28-year-old winger, who was named an Olympian for Team Canada’s men’s hockey team in Milan, enters Thursday’s game with 11 goals and 47 points across 45 games with first-place Vegas this season.

Marner and the Golden Knights will play the Leafs again on Jan. 23, marking his first time back in Toronto.

“It’s like a week apart,” Marner told Siegel. “It’ll be fun to do both.”

Thursday’s puck drop is set for 9:30 p.m. ET.