Auston Matthews officially comments on the departure of Mitch Marner.

By the time the 2024-25 National Hockey League season had come to an end for the Toronto Maple Leafs, most fans in the city has accepted the fact that now former Maple Leafs star forward Mitch Marner would be leaving for greener pastures elsewhere.

Marner leaving the Maple Leafs would in fact come to pass and fans were quick to take to social media to express their feelings on the matter, in way or another, but Marner's former teammates have been relatively quiet on that topic.

On Wednesday night, Maple Leafs star forward Auston Matthews participated in a charity event where he was asked about the departure of Marner and how it had affected him. In a great show of class, Matthews laid none of the blame on Marner and spoke of the departure as merely an unfortunate part of the business of hockey.

"We’ll obviously miss him. He’s a great friend, great teammate. It’s kind of the business side of it, that’s tough," said Matthews. "But obviously wish him the best."

Marner's reputation took a beating in his final years as a Maple Leafs, culminating in Marner cancelling a planned charity event this summer, but the same cannot be said of Matthews. Matthews, who was participating in Hockey Night in Brampton on Wednesday night, received a raucous reception from the crowd in attendance as he was introduced as the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs.