William Nylander claims Mitch Marner had no premeditated plan to break up the Maple Leafs’ band.
Addressing rumblings that Marner was looking down the road for the exit door during last season before a sign-and-trade to the Vegas Golden Knights in late June, Nylander told NHL.com at the NHL/NHLPA European summer media tour in Milan, Italy, it would be news to him.
“Not sure where that stuff comes from, but I don’t think he was ever thinking of leaving ahead of time,” Nylander said. “I actually asked him during the season and he said he was concentrating on Toronto. I didn’t want to press him on that and let him be because it was obviously on his mind, but his play was focussed on helping us.
“Then I asked him after the season and he wasn’t sure.”
At the trade deadline in March, Marne