Homesick or Free? Breaking Down Mitch Marner's First Season in Vegas
- Caitlyn Wagner
- 5 hours ago
- 6 min read
If you know a Leafs fan, then you already know: everyone has a Mitch Marner take. For 9 years in Toronto, Marner was one of the Leafs' "Core Four" with Auston Matthews, John Tavares, and William Nylander. And when a player gets labeled the ‘savior of the franchise,’ the opinions get loud fast – especially when the playoffs don't go the way fans want.
So... was Marner actually the problem?
After a season where the Leafs finished 32-36-14 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016, it’s hard to see how one player could have contributed to such a difference in just one year. Still, Toronto is Toronto, and the debate never stops.
Right before July 1st, the Leafs completed a sign-and-trade with the Vegas Golden Knights, with Marner heading to Vegas and the Leafs obtaining Nick Roy in return. It’s difficult to assess exactly how that trade panned out – Marner was a UFA, so many Leafs fans were just grateful they got a return at all – but looking at Marner’s stats from his first year in Vegas certainly paints an interesting picture.
Hometown Pressure
Vegas was the first time Marner played outside Ontario at any level – junior, pro, all of it. The Markham, Ontario native played his entire junior career in the OHL with the London Knights before being drafted 4th overall in 2015, and then stayed a Lead until his contract expired after 2024-2025.
Some felt like Marner’s departure from Toronto was coming. It was no secret that he had grown up a Leafs fan. Being the hometown kid in a storied franchise like the Leafs is a full-time job, on top of his other full-time job, and after each first-round exit, Marner became the center of the blame. First-round exits always sting, but for the Leafs, who had become very familiar with Game 7 losses, Marner’s 4 points in 7 games didn’t cut it. Fair or not, that's how it goes in Toronto.
Then came his first 100-point season, a better playoff run the next year, and the decision to move on. Marner’s contract was expiring, and he and the Leafs decided to complete a sign-and-trade with the Vegas Golden Knights. For Leafs fans, it felt like the end of an era. As for Vegas, they're just getting started. The Tweet by Elliotte Friedman on July 1st was expected by many fans, and it truly marked the end in Toronto.
But, for Vegas, a new (ish) expansion coming off a stellar season where they went 50-22-10, Marner’s acquisition marked the start of something new – something with Mitch Marner that perhaps the Leafs missed out on, or didn’t care to expand on.
The 2025-26 Season
Following a season in which you get 102 points is always difficult, but Marner didn’t make it seem that way. Parting ways with a team the way he did with the Leafs always means there’s pressure to do better, but all things considered, the right winger had a good season with the Golden Knights.
In 81 games with the Golden Knights, Marner put up 80 points (24 goals, 56 assists). He also piled up 38 primary assists, which was best for 10th in the NHL and best on Vegas by a wide margin. As well, he finished 2nd on the team with 25 multi-point games, and was a large factor in why Vegas had 6 players finish with 55 or more points for the first time in franchise history!
He also played in the 2026 Winter Olympics with Team Canada. Playing with stars like Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid elevates any player’s overall experience, but despite being a playmaker and setting up key plays, Marner also had a few of his own – he scored the game-winning goal in overtime versus Team Czechia, and finished with 5 points in 6 games. He was a key part of the team, and on a team that already had so many superstars, this was quite the achievement.
Overall, the switch from Toronto to Vegas was likely different for Marner, and not just because of the weather. Typically, players who have played with the same team for a long time have trouble adapting right away once they make a change, just due to being so familiar with their previous team and adopting the same habits and routine for so long. However, despite coming to Vegas already bearing the Alternate Captain role, Marner had no such trouble. As many put it, he didn’t just ‘survive the change: he thrived in it.’
The Differences
One of the most noticeable things about Marner’s season with Vegas is that he had significantly fewer points than he put up with the Leafs. Despite not scoring 100 points in a season until his final year in Toronto, Marner consistently flirted with the milestone each year, scoring 97 in 2022 and 99 in 2023. Besides the shortened season due to COVID-19, the forward was consistently above a point-per-game player and was typically relatively healthy, and played most games each season. (An exception to this was the 2023-2024 season, where he played only 69 games due to a lingering ankle issue).
But what about the points breakdown? At 180lbs, Marner is one of the smaller players in a league as physical as the NHL, which typically translates into more of a playmaker style rather than a goal-scoring style. Indeed, in Toronto, that was more of Marner’s style: the most goals he scored in a season were in 2021-2022, where he scored 35 goals yet tallied 62 assists to end with the aforementioned 3 shy points of 100.
The 2025-2026 season in Vegas was mostly the same. Marner’s 24 goals were on par with his typical average, but interestingly, what seemed to drive his overall points down were his assists. This year, he had only 56, and while that’s still a good number, for someone who had 75 assists in the previous season, it does seem a bit lower.
But then consider these two words: Auston Matthews.
Not sure if we need to delve into any more explanation than that, but… the Leafs Captain had that historic 69-goal season in 2023-2024, the same season that Marner had 59 assists in an injury-riddled season. Over half of those assists were on goals scored by Auston Matthews, and the numbers 1634 together used to mean something for a reason: Matthews and Marner made quite the duo, and Matthews’ impressive goal tallies each year typically came off the hands of a primary assist from Marner.
While Vegas has notable players like fellow 2015 draft pick Jack Eichel, they don’t have someone dubbed a ‘superstar’ like Auston Matthews in Toronto. Marner’s point production certainly doesn’t rely on talented players like Auston Matthews, but the fact that he scored the same number of goals this season yet tallied fewer assists is certainly something to think about.
Rewriting the Narrative
We don’t need to remind you of the horrors Leafs fans suffer each year in the playoffs – you’ve probably already heard it (because Leafs fans are not subtle – and I can say this because I am one!) It never feels that deep, but for a team that consistently loses in the first round in Game 7, you have to understand where the fans were coming from.
Marner scored 85 points in 69 games in 2023-2024, yet in the playoffs, he managed only 3 points across 7 games – a significant decline compared to the regular season. In 2024-2025, he performed slightly better with 13 points in 13 games, but it’s up for debate as to whether or not that was the Leafs’ downfall.
What wasn’t up for debate, however, was the continuous blame on Marner. Despite the lacklustre performance by the entire team in, well, all of the playoffs throughout the last ten years, Marner was consistently the one who seemed to pick up the most slack. Sure, his 3 points in 7 games in 2024 were not at all good, but neither were Auston Matthews’s 4 points in 5 games, or William Nylander’s 3 points in 4 games.
Marner left a lot behind in Toronto beyond his signature number 16. Starting over in Vegas allowed the Ontario native some breathing room in a city that doesn’t care as much about hockey as Toronto does, but more than that, it allowed him, for the first time in his career, to gain a different perspective on hockey; one that wasn’t filtered by being in Ontario and in hockey central all day, every day.
To Leafs fans, Marner’s name is always going to be intertwined with the number 16. To Marner, the chance at wearing 93 in Vegas is a fresh start. And honestly? That's the whole point – new city, new number, less noise, and a reminder that hockey is supposed to be fun.
Edited by Olivia Feldgus
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