After becoming Western Conference Champions with the Vegas Golden Knights, Mitch Marner called making the Stanley Cup Final “a special moment” in his career, but he also made cryptic comments about his tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he played his first nine seasons in the NHL.
“There’s been some dark times in hockey for myself, honestly,” he said on May 26.
Tuesday, two days after the Vegas Golden Knights fell in the Stanley Cup Final to the Carolina Hurricanes, Marner elaborated on his comments during his final media session of the season.
In short, Marner explained that he experienced “dark moments” in Toronto where the constant scrutiny and social media pressure made the thought of playing hockey “really tough,” describing it as being in a “dark hole” mentally. He also thanked his teammates and family for helping him through those difficult times and encouraged others to talk about their problems with loved ones.
Yeah, when I said that, mental health is a super important thing to me. It really is. I’ve been really trying to take care of my mental health probably for the last five years or so, and I’m really thankful that I had some unbelievable teammates around me in Toronto that I was able to talk to (and) express myself. My family, my brother, my mom, dad, my wife.
There was some really dark moments there. The thought of playing hockey was really tough, honestly, in a lot of ways. It was just a dark kind of vibe, dark hole in a way, and I’m very thankful, like I said, that I had people around me, teammates that asked me how I was doing and knew that I was going through something that I could talk to.
I just think it’s really important to always check in on your friends, your family, people around you, mental health. I think it’s a thing that, in this day of age now, it gets talked about, but I think still overlooked in a lot of ways.
I think a lot of us, you know, are addicted to the social media aspect of things. You’re seeing a lot of comments, seeing a lot of things about yourself. I tried to check myself out of that in the last two or three years, really, just tried to get off of it, tried to get away from it. I think that’s helped in a lot of ways, but, yeah, I don’t know.
I think you always just got to, you got to be able to talk about it, too. You got to be, you know, people want you around. That’s what I always say. People want you in their life. You should never be afraid to talk about your emotions, and talk about your fears and what you’re going through.
So, yeah, I’m super thankful that I had a lot of people in my life. I just thought I could, you know, talk to and share things and made me better.
Marner made the playoffs all nine seasons he played in Toronto, but the Maple Leafs, who have not won a Stanley Cup since 1967, never advanced past the second round Despite being one of the greatest Leafs forwards of all time and posting more than a point per game (741 points in 657 games), Marner fell out of favor with fans as he struggled, along with his teammates, to find success in the big moments.
Over the offseason, Marner got the change of scenery he desired, signing an 8-year, $96 million extension with the Maple Leafs before being dealt to the Golden Knights.
Marner certainly seemed to re-find himself and his love for the game with the Golden Knights. The talented winger broke out in the Stanley Cup Playoffs under head coach John Tortorella, leading the NHL in points with 29 points (10g, 19a) in 22 games.
Ultimately, the Golden Knights fell in six games to the Hurricanes, but Marner certainly did what he could, including scoring a hat trick in Game 3 of the championship series — the fastest in Stanley Cup Final history.
