It’s safe to say there are no hard feelings between Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner post-split.
The Toronto Maple Leafs captain spoke ahead of Hockey Night in Brampton on Wednesday, making his first public address since Marner joined the Vegas Golden Knights.
“We’ll obviously miss him,” Matthews said of his long-time linemate. “He’s a great friend, great teammate.”
Matthews and Marner made their NHL debuts during the 2016-17 season — both making the all-rookie team — after being drafted a year apart. Marner was selected fourth overall by the Maple Leafs in 2015 before Matthews was taken with the No. 1 pick a season later.
As rookies, the pair helped turn what was a 29-win team the year prior into a 40-win club that snapped a three-year playoff drought. And while Matthews and Marner found plenty of regular-season success since then — three 50-plus win seasons, four combined all-star nods and two division titles — there was little postseason success to show for it. Despite making nine consecutive playoff berths while being led by the duo, the Maple Leafs advanced past the first round just twice and failed to move any further both times.
All of which led to Marner’s departure this off-season, as he made the move to Las Vegas in a sign-and-trade deal that inked him to an eight-year, $96 million contract extension with the Golden Knights.
“That’s kind of the business side of it, that’s tough,” Matthews added. “But obviously wish him nothing but the best … we’ll just keep it moving.”
None of which, however, has the 27-year-old feeling any less enthusiastic about the year ahead.
“Feeling good, a lot of changes, but feeling excited about the guys we brought in and obviously excited about the guys that we have,” Matthews said as he prepared to take the ice for Canada’s largest charity hockey game at the CAA Centre. “I know we have a great team and great group of guys in the locker room, so looking forward to getting started. Guys are going to have to take some steps, but I think that’s a good thing, a good problem to have, so really looking forward to it.”
One of the players who will surely be asked to do more is Matthew Knies. The 22-year-old is coming off a career-best 58-point showing (29 goals, 29 assists) in his third NHL season. The young winger ranked fourth on the Maple Leafs roster for goals and fifth in points as Toronto finished with a 52-26-4 record (first in the Atlantic Division) en route to a seven-game second-round playoff exit against the eventual back-to-back champion Florida Panthers.
Earlier in the week, it was announced that Knies, along with Matthews and 42 others, had been named to USA Hockey’s list of players invited to the country’s men’s orientation camp for the winter Olympics in February 2026.
When the Leafs captain was asked about his NHL teammate earning an invite, he had nothing but praise for Knies, who previously represented the red-white-and-blue at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing before NHL players were allowed to participate again.
“I’ve talked to him a little bit, I think it’s well deserved,” Matthews explained. “I mean, he’s a great player and still just coming into his own and is only going to get better, so I know he’s really looking forward to the opportunity obviously … it’ll be a good time for, I think, everybody to just get together and be in that kind of atmosphere with a bunch of other really good players.”
How much either Marner’s departure or prepping for the upcoming Olympics will impact Matthews or the Maple Leafs in 2025-26 is yet to be seen. But for what it’s worth, the star doesn’t appear to be too concerned.
“I don’t think so, every year going into it, I want to be focused, I want to be ready to compete from the get-go,” Matthews said when asked if his mindset may have shifted heading into next season. “With camp and everything, and obviously we’ve got a lot of changes like I said, but I don’t think the mindset really changes. Have to be focused, be willing to obviously do whatever it takes to win. Obviously a hard league to win in, and for us, it’s not getting too far ahead of ourselves, too.
“Stay in the moment and making sure that we just take care of the day.”