Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner was the victim of a carjacking in Toronto, the team said Tuesday as city police investigated.
Marner was not hurt in the carjacking that took place in east Toronto on Monday evening, the team said.
“He was unharmed in the incident and the Club & Mitch are thankful for Toronto Police Services’ support,” the Maple Leafs wrote in a statement. “Anyone with information is asked to reach out to Toronto Police Services.”
Police have asked that “neither Marner or the Club comment any further on the details of the incident” as it is under investigation, the Leafs added.
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Marner’s teammate, Jason Spezza, reflected on the carjacking Tuesday morning.
“It’s scary, that’s life. That’s not hockey,” Spezza said.
The carjacking comes a day after York Regional Police released a video about car hijackings being on the rise in the Greater Toronto Area.
In the video, the force in the region north of Toronto says thieves are typically following cars when they park, ambushing drivers when they exit their cars and stealing their car keys by force.
Marner and the Leafs were eliminated from the playoffs Saturday night in Game 7 against Tampa Bay. Marner had 35 goals and 97 points in 72 games in the regular season and added two goals and six assists against the Lightning.
Wild want Marc-Andre Fleury, Cam Talbot back in net
The Wild stocked their net with a three-time Stanley Cup winner at the trade deadline, fetching Marc-Andre Fleury to form an accomplished goalie tandem with All-Star Cam Talbot down the stretch of the best regular season in franchise history.
The Wild would prefer to keep the pair in place, general manager Bill Guerin said, despite their lack of salary cap space.
“There’s no controversy. There’s no drama. We like both goalies. We like both people,” Guerin said. “We want them both back, and we think we can be successful with both of them.”
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Fleury with his clutch-time credentials was given the net for the first five games of the first-round series against St. Louis. Once the Wild decided it was time to turn to Talbot, it was too late. The Blues finished off the Wild in six games.
“Obviously I was disappointed I didn’t get to play more in the playoffs, but who’s not? We’re competitors. You want to play,” Talbot said. “But the coaches had a decision to make, and I don’t think there was a wrong decision. Obviously, you trade for a guy like that with his pedigree and his past, why wouldn’t you start him Game 1?”
Talbot has one year remaining on his deal and said he expects to return for 2022-23 and expressed no lingering ill will about being mostly left out of the playoffs.
“Because it’s not about me. It’s about the 23, 24 other guys in that room,” Talbot said.
The 37-year-old Fleury’s contract carried a cap hit of nearly double that of Talbot this season, but he will be a free agent in July. Being away from his family after the sudden change in teams was emotionally draining, but he raved about the chemistry within the team, the culture of the organization, and the support around town.
“It was good to live this,” Fleury said.
Penguins trio hopes to remain together
While Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang hoped to put off any speculation about their future until early summer at the earliest, they can’t anymore. Not after Pittsburgh’s season ended with a draining Game 7 loss to the Rangers in the first round of the playoffs.
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Rather than prepping for the Eastern Conference semifinals, Malkin and Letang spent Tuesday cleaning out their lockers and trying to talk about their uncertain future as diplomatically as possible.
Both stressed their preference to keep playing alongside captain Sidney Crosby for as long as they can. They’re both well aware, however, that for the first time, what’s best for themselves and what’s best for the Penguins might not be the same thing.
“I’m ready to go away,” Malkin said. “If I stay, so much (happier). If not, it’s OK. (I’ll) move my family to another city and hopefully play my best hockey.”
Malkin, who turns 36 in July, scored 20 goals despite missing basically the entire first half of the season after undergoing knee surgery last June. He remains a force on the power play, and stressed he is looking forward to using the offseason to return to form.
“I know I’m older,” he said. “I believe in myself. I know it’s (a) hard year for me, big injury, but ...(last summer was) probably hardest summer in my whole life. I want to get back to next level next year and show my best for sure.”
Malkin’s expiring deal carried an average annual value of $9.5 million. While he stressed money is “not a big deal,” his next contract will almost certainly be his last chance to cash in. He estimated he’d like to play 3-4 more years and dismissed a report that said he’s considering a return to his native Russia.
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Letang, who at 35 appears to be getting better with age after piling up a career-best 68 points, would like to play another five years and figures to have played his way to a significant pay bump from the $7.25 million he averaged over the course of the contract he signed in 2014.
“I certainly (tried) to help build something good here and obviously want to keep it going,” he said, later adding “it’s a special group, a group that can win anything.”
The Penguins haven’t advanced out of the first round since 2018. Their feel they outplayed the Rangers for long stretches during their seven-game thriller. Ultimately, it didn’t matter. They gave away leads in each of the final three games with a chance to close New York out.
New owners Fenway Sports Group could give Crosby, Malkin, and Letang a chance to keep it going. Or they could hit reset and try to retool around Crosby, who turns 35 in August but looked as dangerous as ever against the Rangers before missing a portion of Game 5 and all of Game 6 after taking a hit to the head.
Crosby demurred when asked if he thinks he’s earned the right to have a say in what direction the club moves in the offseason while reiterating he intends to play to the end of his current deal that runs through 2025.
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Besides, Crosby pointed out he’s hardly kept his desire to have Malkin and Letang stick around a secret.
“We understand it’s not something that can happen forever,” he said. “Hopefully a little bit longer we can continue to play together. It’s unique, it’s special.”
The trio have served as the cornerstone for a remarkable run that includes three Cup championships and 16 straight playoff appearances, the longest active streak in major North American professional sports.