Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday. This week reveals a similarity between Mitch Marner's departure from Toronto to Las Vegas and bygone Toronto Maple Leafs hero Gordie Drillon's controversial exit from Maple Leaf Gardens to Montreal 83 years ago.
Mitch Marner may never have heard of Gordie Drillon, but the former's exit from Toronto resembles "L'Affaire Drillon" that similarly shook Canada's Queen City in 1942.
What we do know is that Drillon, a Toronto Maple Leafs forward inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame with the Class of 1975, endured a variation of Marner's issues eight decades ago before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens. This followed a Stanley Cup Playoff slump and an unexpected benching that shocked the hockey world.
Marner's melodrama was no less traumatic for fans of the Royal Blue and White. On June 30, the erstwhile golden hometown boy was part of a sign-and-trade that sent him to the Vegas Golden Knights for Nicolas Roy. Leafs Country was dismayed over Marner's two goals in 13 playoff games and the creative forward grew exasperated over fan and media criticism and concerns about his family's well-being.
"It is what it is," Marner said at the NHL/NHLPA North American Player Media Tour. "I still have a lot of appreciation and love for a lot of people there."
He'll see them again upon returning to Scotiabank Arena for the first time as a member of the Golden Knights on Jan. 23.
"Just a guy that tried, I guess, to help his hometown team accomplish great things," Marner said. "Now I'm here, and like I keep saying, it's a new chapter. And I'm excited."
In Drillon's case, family well-being was also an issue.
"Gordie's wife had been ill for some time and she underwent a serious operation shortly after the final playoff game," wrote Eric Zweig in "The Toronto Maple Leafs: The Complete Oral History."
Along with John Tavares, Auston Matthews and William Nylander, Marner was delegated to help bring the Stanley Cup to Toronto for the first time since 1967, but the core's most recent failure was a seven-game loss to the Florida Panthers in the 2025 Eastern Conference Second Round.
"If you keep getting the same results, there's some DNA that needs to change," Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said May 29.
The fallout extended into training camp.
"Maybe you guys will ask a few more 'Mitchy' questions for the next couple of weeks and then, hopefully, it will die down here shortly," Matthews said Sept. 19.
It took a while in 1942 for the furor over Drillon's playoff failure to subside. Up until the fateful Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings, he was as much a Maple Leafs hero as Marner. His 26 points and 52 goals led the NHL in 1937-38, when he won the Lady Byng Trophy given "to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability."
Once the Final began, Drillon was expected to be among Toronto's scorers.
"Gordie was the best fellow to put the puck in the net that I ever saw," said captain Syl Apps to Jack Batten in "The Leafs in Autumn."
But Drillon was without a point in three straight losses to the Red Wings, so Maple Leafs coach Hap Day benched him without having a high-grade replacement. Desperate, Day gambled on Don Metz, a utility forward who was thrust on the first line with Apps.
Unexpectedly, Metz helped rally the Maple Leafs to an unprecedented four straight victories and the Stanley Cup. Devastated by his benching, Drillon was unforgiving in a post-playoff interview with Globe and Mail columnist Vern DeGeer.
"I'd been dreaming about that Stanley Cup ever since I was a kid," he said. "It grew and grew in my mind each season, but when the series was finished and I wasn't even on the bench, that Cup grew smaller and smaller. Just a shattered dream. I won't be back with the Leafs next winter."
Drillon was traded to the Canadiens on Oct. 4, 1942, and was fifth on the Canadiens with 50 points (28 goals, 22 assists) in 49 games the following season. He then enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
By contrast, Marner's cross-continent adventure has been uplifting. As for Maple Leaf Country, it still seems dazed.
"It's time for a new chapter in life," Marner said.
It even might include the Stanley Cup.
NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger contributed to this report
