Minus Mitch: Maple Leafs head into new seasons with new look after Marner’s departure

Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly (44) takes part in a drill with teammate Auston Matthews (34) at training camp in Toronto on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sammy Kogan

TORONTO — Craig Berube heard the term over and over last season.

The Toronto Maple Leafs bench boss came to town knowing a quartet of star forwards would continue to be a constant focus — even after years of playoff failure.

Another disappointing spring was followed by a seismic summer. With one of those talismanic talents now gone after a dramatic exit, Berube joked there’s at least one positive losing a 103-point player from his lineup.

“It’s a little bit of a change,” he said at the start of training camp. “What excites me is I don’t have to hear ‘Core Four’ anymore.”

That moniker used to describe the talented, high-paid and, when it mattered most, ultimately underachieving quartet of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares has been shelved following a long march out the door.

Marner, who had a full no-movement clause in his previous contract, declined to ink an extension with the team he cheered for growing up and selected him No. 4 overall at the 2015 NHL draft. Toronto was forced into a sign-and-trade deal with the Vegas Golden Knights that sealed Marner’s departure and ended of a roller-coaster nine years in hockey’s biggest media market.

The Leafs now move forward in the tough-and-potentially-getting-tougher Atlantic Division.

“You add some new faces,” said Matthews, the team’s captain and star centre. “Just excited about what those guys bring to the table.”

And as for Marner?

“Can’t really dwell on the past,” Matthews said. “We wish him the best.”

“Big part of locker room for a long time,” Nylander added. “But we’ve just got to look forward and focus on the future.”

The task of filling a gaping hole on Toronto’s first line, power play and penalty kill will be by committee. The Leafs added forwards Matias Maccelli, Dakota Joshua and Nicolas Roy in the off-season, but general manager Brad Treliving looks set to have the luxury of salary cap space — a rarity in Toronto over the last number of years — to upgrade his roster during the season, if he so chooses.

Maccelli appears poised to start the season alongside Matthews and Matthew Knies on the top line, while defenceman Morgan Rielly will quarterback the No. 1 man-advantage unit with Marner now in Sin City.

Rielly, the longest serving member of the current roster, said despite all the talk of change, things don’t feel all that different.

“We have a lot of belief in our ability as a team and our group and our core,” said the veteran blueliner. “We’re motivated as much as anything because of the way last season ended, which is obviously a familiar feeling.”

That feeling was repeated to close out Toronto’s second-round series against Florida in May. After advancing past the Ottawa Senators, the Leafs led the Panthers 2-0 before suffering three straight losses, including an ugly 6-1 home defeat to go down 3-2.

Toronto rallied to force Game 7 at Scotiabank Arena, but produced a mirror-image performance to Game 5 in another 6-1 demolition.

Berube, who won the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, was hired to get the Leafs to their ultimate goal with his straightforward, hard-nosed, north-south style.

The former NHL enforcer also knows his group needs to be better in difficult moments.

“It’s OK to bend in those games, but not break,” Berube said. “We’ve got to get over that hump. That’s a big part of it. Bringing in some new players, I think is important. But it’s just keeping working and teaching these guys and trying to get them mentally dialled in for those games. You come to Toronto in a big game at home, it’s a lot of pressure, we all know that, but we’ve got to all be able to deal with it better than we did.

“It’s something that we talk about.”

Unlike, for the first time in a long time, the Core Four.

Captain Matty

Berube was impressed by Matthews in his first season as captain. The former 69-goal man was limited to 33 in 2024-25 — in part because of a lingering upper-body injury — but his coach saw lots to like.

“He grew quickly as a leader,” Berube said. “Just in-game things, in the room, during games where he’s demanding.”

Rielly rebound

The team’s No. 1 defenceman, who registered just 41 points in 82 games last season, spent some of his down time reflecting on himself and who he wants to be as a player.

There were a number of tough conversations, including with Treliving after Toronto was bounced by Florida.

“I’m real proud of the summer he’s put in,” said the GM. “He’s taken it to heart. He’s a big piece for us. Getting Morgan Rielly back to the level that we know he’s capable of will have an impact on our team.”

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press