Will the Maple Leafs be fine without Mitch Marner?

The Toronto Maple Leafs got their 2025-26 NHL regular season started in fine fashion on Wednesday night with a 5-2 win at home over the Montreal Canadiens. 

While the victory saw a goal and two assists for William Nylander, and three other players put up multipoint efforts, it also marked the start of the post-Mitch Marner era for the organization as they began their journey of looking to replace his career-high 102 points from 2024-25.

On the latest episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton dive into how the Maple Leafs will fare in the regular season without Auston Matthews’ prime set-up man.

Yaremchuk: The Toronto Maple Leafs look good and score five goals in their first game without Mitch Marner. I’m going to say the Leafs don’t miss Marner at all this season, and they find a way to match their point total from last year.

Hutton: I’m kind of on board, but I’m still a little tentative about where they’re going to make up that 102-point season in production. 

I did see a stat from Stephen Valiquette about the percentages of chances that Auston Matthews had were down to being fed by Mitch Marner in high-danger situations. I don’t know if that’s more of a knock against Matthews’ season last year, the drop, or how much he and Marner wasn’t that big of a set in his side. 

My concern with this team is going to be their depth when it comes down, but I think this is going to be a team we judge on playoff success. I liked the way they looked last night. 

This is a Craig Berube-coached team, a team that now has non-negotiables in the way they defend. Last night, one thing I really liked in the Toronto defensive zone was that I watched Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson constantly try to draw guys out of position to open up the middle of the ice. It just felt like they were structured, layered, and predictable, which suits them well when they have two great goalies. With this compressed schedule, I think it favors the Leafs. 

You can catch the rest of the Maple Leafs segment and Thursday’s show right here…