How Toronto feels about Mitch Marner, potential playoff MVP - ESPN

Ask a Toronto Maple Leafs fan about Mitch Marner's performance in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs for the Vegas Golden Knights and a lot of words will follow, a few of them printable.

Two of the most common ones: «of course.»

As in, of course Marner would make his first appearance in the conference finals the minute he's no longer a Maple Leaf. Of course this postseason pariah, this lightning rod of ire through so many disappointing ends in Toronto, would become the playoffs' leading scorer (21 points in 15 games) and the leader for the Conn Smythe Trophy. Of course he's a handful of wins away from following in the tradition of Lanny McDonald, Larry Murphy, Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri as players who won the Stanley Cup in another city after failing to help Toronto plan its first parade since 1967.

Of course this is happening for Mitch Marner.

«That goes with the territory. It just becomes part of the sport itself: Which ex-Leaf is going to raise the Cup this year, because they couldn't do it here?» said Kevin McGran, a writer for the Toronto Star who attended his first game at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1971.

That it might be Marner's turn has left some fans flustered.

«It's amazing to me listening to grown-ass men, who have families and important jobs, and they're like, 'I can't believe he might win a Stanley Cup. It's just awful,'» said Jeff O'Neill, a former NHL player turned radio and television analyst at TSN in Canada.

Marner spent nine years with the Maple Leafs after they drafted him No. 4 in 2015. The Ontario native amassed 741 points in 657 regular-season games.

Toronto made the playoffs nine times during Marner's tenure. The Leafs advanced past the opening round just twice, and never beyond. Marner