Auston Matthews is sick of answering questions about Mitch Marner

“Two more weeks, then we’re done,” the Toronto Maple Leafs captains said.

May 18, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (34) and forward Mitch Marner (16) take to the ice for warm up before game seven of the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

The 2025-26 season hasn’t even started yet, and Auston Matthews is already just about fed up with answering reporters questions about his former teammate Mitch Marner.

During a reporter scrum on Monday, the Maple Leafs captain gave media members a deadline on the Marner questions.

 

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The question Matthews was answering was about his pregame routine to stay out on the ice as late as possible, and whether he was going to ask someone new to join him, as he used to be accompanied by Marner. Matthews responded with, “we’ll see,” and then gave the reporter the two week deadline.

Mitch Marner signed a monster 8-year, $96 million contract extension with Toronto on June 30th and was then immediately flipped to Vegas as part of a sign-and-trade. The Maple Leafs received Nicolas Roy in return. Marner’s departure as well as Matthews having to play without Marner this upcoming season have dominated most of the headlines this summer in Leafs land.

Marner, born in Markham, Ontario, was selected fourth overall by his hometown Maple Leafs in the 2015 NHL draft and had spent his entire career with Toronto until he decided to head south in free agency.

Marner was a key player for the Maple Leafs for almost a decade, and although he was a fantastic player who has his name plastered all over the franchise’s record books, the team could never find playoff success while he was with the club, and a divorce between the two was probably the right call for both parties.

Marner now finds himself on a loaded Vegas team with less media attention, less pressure, and less outside noise. Former teammate Tyson Barrie hopped on the “Spittin Chiclets” podcast last week and reitarted that Marner will “find success” with the Golden Knights and that he will enjoy the lack of media attention.

“”I love (Marner) so much. I think he’s going to do so great in Vegas. It’s going to be crazy for him to play, you know, game 32 and come into the locker room and nobody’s going to be.””
Former NHLer Tyson Barrie

Auston Matthews, on the other hand, is now going to have to play without his buddy and his right hand man Mitch Marner. The Leafs captain is coming off of a disappointing season, based on his standards, and will be looking to get back to his 69-goal pace.

With Marner gone, who took most of the heat here in Toronto for the Maple Leafs failures, all eyes are now going to be on the captain and the highest earner on the team in Auston Matthews to lead them to playoff success.