On Tuesday, June 16, Mitch Marner took a moment to sit with the media in the aftermath of the Vegas Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup Final loss. There were a range of topics Marner was asked to speak about, but one segment of his media availability stood out.
After pointing to some ‘dark times’ during his long, long stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Marner was asked to elaborate on that train of thought and if the move to Vegas had eased his mind.
Mitch Marner Explains His ‘Dark Days’ Comment on Toronto Maple Leafs Era
“There’s been some dark times in hockey for myself,” were Marner’s exact words after Vegas booked a trip to the 2026 Stanley Cup Final. It didn’t take too long for fans and analysts to press Marner about more details on that thought.
However, the Golden Knights forward refused to get into any more details bang in the middle of the series against the Carolina Hurricanes, instead telling reporters he would elaborate if Vegas won the Stanley Cup.
That, unfortunately, did not come to pass, but Marner poignantly answered that line of questioning regardless, stressing the importance of mental health.
“Mental health is a super important thing to me. I’ve been really trying to take care of my mental health for the last five years or so,” Marner said. “I’m really thankful that I had some unbelievable teammates in Toronto that I was able to talk to and express myself. My family, my brother, my mom, dad, my wife.
“There were some really dark moments there where the thought of playing hockey was really tough in a lot of ways. It was just a dark kinda vibe, a dark hole in a way.
“I’m very thankful I had people around me, teammates who asked me how I was doing and knew I was going through something. I just think it’s really important to check in on your friends, your family, people around you, their mental health.
I asked Mitch Marner if he could elaborate on the “dark days” comment he made during Media Day.
Poignant response about mental health: pic.twitter.com/adEHrBsWla
— Danny Webster (@DannyWebster21) June 16, 2026
Marner also pointed to the pitfalls of excessive social media use, especially when it comes to athletes.
“I think a lot of us are addicted to the social media aspect of things. Seeing a lot of comments, a lot of things about yourself. I’ve tried to check myself out of that in the last 2-3 years, really, trying to get off it, trying to get away from it. I think that’s helped in a lot of ways.”
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After the move to Vegas, Marner’s agent revealed that the NHL star’s family faced death threats and had to scramble for additional security in Toronto after things got out of hand.
Since the sign-and-trade to Vegas, Marner looked like a man reborn, relieved of carrying the burden of an NHL franchise in arguably the most pressing market in hockey.
While Vegas ultimately fell short of its goal, Marner still had an ultra-productive season, leading the Golden Knights all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. He finished the NHL Playoffs with 29 points (10G, 19A), but was conspicuously absent from the scoreboard in the final two games, leading to fresh criticism.
Interestingly, the Knights also went through two coaches during the Marner era (Bruce Cassidy and John Tortorella) and are now looking for a new bench boss after letting Tortorella walk.
