Mitch Marner opened up about his mental health struggles and elaborated on the “dark times” comment two days after the Carolina Hurricanes ended the Vegas Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup dreams.
Despite Marner’s All-World performance in the postseason (29 points in 22 games), the Golden Knights were unable to stop the surging Storm.
Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jordan Staal and goaltender Brandon Bussey led Carolina to three consecutive wins from down 2–1 in the series, giving the franchise its first Stanley Cup title in 20 years.
Marner says Golden Knights clinched Western Conference after victory over Colorado Avalanche They experienced “dark times” Early in his career. Marner later said he would only elaborate if Vegas won the Stanley Cup. Many interpreted Marner’s comments as a dig at his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
talking to reporter on Tuesday (h/t daily faceoff), Marner detailed his mental health struggles and elaborated on the “dark times” comment:
“When I say that, I think mental health is a very important thing to me,” Marner said. “It really is. I’ve been really trying to take care of my mental health, probably for the last five years. I’m really grateful that I had some incredible teammates around me in Toronto that I was able to talk to, be able to express myself, like my family, my brother, my mom, dad, my wife.
“There were some really dark moments there, the idea of playing hockey was really hard in a lot of ways. It was just a dark type of environment, kind of a dark hole. And I’m very grateful that I had people around me, teammates who asked me how I was doing and knew I was going through something I could talk to. I think it’s really important to always check in on your friends, your family, people around you, mental health.”
Marner’s 29 points in the postseason led all other NHL players. If they had won the Stanley Cup, they certainly would have won the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Mitch Marner silences haters in first year with Vegas
(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
In his nine seasons in Toronto, Marner performed like a superstar in the regular season. He was often the scapegoat for Toronto’s post-season failures, scoring 63 points in 70 playoff contests as a Leaf.
But in his first year with Vegas, Marner has erased the perception that he is not a player who performs well in big games. He had one of the greatest individual playoff runs of all time. Apparently, the seasoned veteran just needed a change of scenery.
