Mitch Marner faced wrath of teenage Maple Leafs fans while walking dog

It was a long summer for Toronto Maple Leafs fans who waited patiently — or not so patiently near the end — for their star winger to sign a new contract. The suffering finally ended Friday night when Mitch Marner inked a six-year, $65.358-million deal in time to join his team for training camp.

TSN's Darren Dreger caught up with the 22-year-old at the airport Saturday morning, fresh off one of the biggest paydays in recent NHL history.

When asked about the last 24-36 hours of contract negotiations, Marner shared insight on how uptight the Toronto fan base was nearing the final moments.

“I was walking my dog and I had 13-year-old kids yelling at me from across the park screaming about not signing. That’s the Toronto fan base. It’s great to be a part of for another six years.”

Marner added that he had seen some of the negative comments on social media regarding his contract hold out, and was disappointed to see how the fan base could turn on his family.

“I expected stuff to come at Darren and myself, but I saw a couple of comments about my father and stuff like that that no one is going to like seeing or reading,” Marner said. “It was pretty disappointing to see some of the people express themselves about my family and my family name.”

It’s this same passionate and enigmatic fan base that Marner is proud to commit to until the 2024-25 season. Fans will likely let up on the young star once he rejoins the team and works on topping his career-best campaign of 26 goals and 94 points in 82 regular-season contests last year.

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