“You can’t replace Mitch Marner with one player.”
MILTON, Ontario -- It was an understandable slip of the tongue.
On a beautiful sun-splashed late summer day in southern Ontario, the Toronto Maple Leafs held what is considered to be the kickoff to the new season with their Leafs & Legends Charity Golf Classic at the impressively manicured Rattlesnake Golf Club on Monday. The event comes two days before players and management officially open their 2025 training camp, which again will be held at Ford Performance Centre, the team’s practice facility.
To that end, a Maple Leafs official was informing the media about which players would be available on the first day of camp. There would be a press conference, he said, involving Auston Matthews, John Tavares “and Mitch …”
He quickly stopped himself. “Mitch,” of course, was a reference to forward Mitch Marner, who had been a key member of the franchise for the past nine years before becoming a Vegas Golden Knight.
Oops, admitted the official. Old habits die hard.
Indeed it’s “weird,” as many Maple Leafs describe it, to not have the chatty, skilled Marner on hand. From 2016-25 the speedy wing had 741 points (221 goals, 520 assists) in 657 games, including finishing fifth in NHL scoring last season with a team-high 102 points (27 goals, 75 assists) in 81 games.
As general manager Brad Treliving put it: “You can’t replace Mitch Marner with one player.”
Nor was he about to try.
Instead the Maple Leafs brought in four forwards in the offseason who could potentially change the look of a forward group that some nights could have a 33% makeover (four of 12).
Exit Marner. Enter Nicolas Roy, Dakota Joshua, Matias Maccelli and Michael Pezzetta.
The four newcomers took time out to meet with the media Monday, officially beginning a new chapter with the Maple Leafs and closing the books on the Marner one in Toronto.
What excites the Toronto brass is that all four bring different skill sets to the table.
Roy was acquired from the Golden Knights in the trade that sent Marner to Vegas on July 1. The 6-foot-4, 201-pound center had 166 points (68 goals, 98 assists) in 369 regular-season games with Vegas and the Carolina Hurricanes, and plays the type of heavy forechecking game coach Craig Berube covets.
“I can bring the skill set that helped me win a Stanley Cup," Roy said Monday, referring to the Golden Knights championship in 2023. "PK, power play, different things in the game. So, yeah, I'm definitely going to try to help the team win.”
In the process, he’s embracing the chance to play in the spotlight of hockey-crazed Toronto.
“It’ll be different for sure. Big market, Canada,” Roy said. “I mean, it's always nice to have a little pressure. That's what you play for. So it'll be different, but I'll enjoy it for sure.
“Having that pedigree in the playoffs, we've been there for multiple years. You don't want to be too high, too low. I've been there. So, I mean, this team's been there too. But I know what I can bring in the playoffs to help this team win. So, I'm excited for that.”
So is Joshua, who is coming off one of the most tumultuous periods of both his hockey and personal life.
The 29-year-old, who was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks for a fourth-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft, was diagnosed with testicular cancer in July 2024 and did not return to action until November. The 6-3, 206 forechecking machine hopes to return to his 2023-24 form when he scored a career high 18 goals in 63 games.
“I’m very highly motivated,” he said. “It was a rough year last year for me, I know the things I need to do to put that in the past and make this a good one. It’s right there for the taking.
“It was a difficult time and tough to go through, but in the end, I’m very lucky and thankful that I got it taken care of early on and no real major side effects after recovering. So just to go through that and be thankful to still be playing at the highest level. And then, once again, putting it behind me and just moving forward and getting back to the player I know I am.
NHL Tonight discusses the Maple Leafs trading for Dakota Joshua
Joshua played for Berube with the St. Louis Blues in 2021-22.
“He’s a very straightforward coach,” Joshua said. “You know what he expects out of you, and it’s easy to play for him in the fact of there’s no grey area. He likes them north and south, up and down, and just to compete is the main thing. As long as you can compete, then he’s a great coach to play for.”
The Maple Leafs acquired Maccelli from the Utah Mammoth in exchange for a conditional third-round selection in 2027 on June 30. The 24-year-old, who has never played in a postseason game, has offensive upside and is looking to regain the form that saw him produce 57 points (17 goals, 40 assists) in 82 games with the Arizona Coyotes in 2023-24.
“First of all it would be nice to play playoffs for first time,” he said. “Obviously, that’s the goal and to win is the most important thing. And then for myself, I want to have a better season than I’ve had, make it the best one of my career, and enjoy it, have fun.”
The 27-year-old Pezzetta, a Toronto native, plans to do exactly that now that he’s back in his hometown. The 6-1, 219-pound wing, who signed a two-year, $1.575 million deal with Toronto on July 1, was brought in for his muscle after accruing 241 penalty minutes in 200 games with the Montreal Canadiens.
“Growing up as a kid, watching the Leafs play, being from Toronto, I think that’s what every kid dreams about,” he said. “I sure did.
“I’m so excited to put that jersey on for the first time. I can’t even explain it.”
When all four do that very thing later this week, it will mark a fresh beginning for both them and the Maple Leafs.
And the unofficial end of the Marner era in Toronto at the same time.
