His now former teammates have had more than enough time to absorb what it will mean to be the Maple Leafs without Mitch Marner.
But as the team gathered on the eve of full on-ice training sessions for the team鈥檚 108th聽season, it really did sound as if Auston Matthews, Morgan Rielly and John Tavares had long ago moved on from their once-beloved teammate.
鈥淗e’ll be a friend of all of ours for life,鈥 said Matthews. 鈥淭hey’re always tough conversations to have at the end of the day. He made his decision and we wish him nothing but the best moving forward. And we’re moving on.鈥
鈥Guys leave all the time,鈥 said Rielly. 鈥淢itch was a polarizing guy because of how talented he was. But for us it’s onward.鈥
Matthews wears the C, Tavares and Rielly wear As, and the team decided the only three players to address the media on Wednesday would be the leadership group.
There鈥檚 no fourth alternate captain, and it was perhaps telling that William Nylander wasn鈥檛 part of the availability as the team truly looks to move beyond the narrative of the Matthews-Marner-Tavares-Nylander Core Four.
鈥淲hat excites me is I don’t have to hear 鈥楥ore Four鈥 anymore,鈥 said coach Craig Berube.
Indeed, the success or failure of the team is now more about all the players, not resting in the fate of the four highest-paid players, though the haircut Tavares took to remain a Leaf (from a cap hit of $11 million U.S. to $4.4 million) puts him behind Matthews ($13.25 million), Nylander ($11.5 million), Matthew Knies ($7.75 million), Rielly ($7.5 million), Jake McCabe ($4.51 million) and Chris Tanev ($4.5 million).
鈥淚 like our depth at centre ice,鈥 said GM Brad Treliving. 鈥淲e’ve got lots of guys, lots of options to play in the middle. I like the bottom of our lineup. I think we’ve increased the depth there.鈥
Those who can play centre include Matthews, Tavares and newcomer Nicolas Roy and returning players such as Max Domi, Scott Laughton and David Kampf.
Domi, however, is starting the camp injured, officially 鈥渄ay to day鈥 with a lower body injury. He had been pegged by Berube as the most likely candidate to replace Marner on the top line with Matthews and Knies. Another newcomer, Matias Maccelli, may now start camp there.
鈥淒omi and Maccelli are two guys that are great passers,鈥 said Berube. 鈥淭hey can pass the puck and make plays, and that鈥檚 what that line needs.鈥
Treliving talked about changing the team鈥檚 DNA after its playoff loss to the Florida Panthers, the eventual Stanley Cup champion in June. Berube believes Treliving has done just that. The proof that they can win when it matters most, however, is months away if and when the team makes the playoffs.
鈥淚 don’t think there’s one answer you can come up with,鈥 said Berube. 鈥淏ut there’s obviously things that we’re looking into. We’re trying to get better in that situation. We鈥檝e got to get over that hump.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a process. We鈥檙e starting training camp. I鈥檓 focused on training camp.鈥
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