Maple Leafs fans are left heartbroken after Mitch Marner pens emotional goodbye

Mitch Marner was officially dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights as part of a sign-and-trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Marner will spend the next eight years in Vegas and become one of the highest-paid players in the NHL with the deal. He penned an emotional goodbye to Maple Leafs fans once the deal became official, but that doesn't make his departure any easier.

Marner went in tremendous depth about how much the Maple Leafs organization and the city of Toronto mean to him. The note certainly felt heartfelt. We can argue all day about whether the Leafs were in the right for moving on from Marner, but that doesn't make his departure any easier.

Maple Leafs letting hometown superstar walk will always be tough pill to swallow

Watching any homegrown superstar leave is difficult, but Marner is more than that. He's a Markham, Ontario native who grew up a fan of the team. As he said in his message, all he wanted to do was win and deliver a Stanley Cup to his home city. He was extremely proud to wear the Maple Leaf on his chest.

Not being able to achieve his ultimate goal was a painful reality for him, and something Maple Leafs fans will eventually come to terms with. The fact that he consistently disappeared when it mattered most likely makes the realization that he'll never win a Cup in Toronto even tougher for everyone involved.

A player like William Nylander, for example, leaving Toronto would've been a hard pill to swallow, but it might not have stung quite as much given Marner's additional ties to the city and the fan base.

Marner, a homegrown superstar who happens to be a Toronto native, was supposed to play an instrumental role in breaking the Leafs' prolonged Cup drought. His tenure ending without a Conference Finals appearance is just hard to come to terms with.

Maple Leafs made the right decision letting Mitch Marner walk

As painful as it is to see a homegrown superstar who happens to be a hometown kid leave as a free agent, it's hard to deny that the Maple Leafs are making the right decision here.

Marner spent each of his first nine NHL seasons with the Maple Leafs and helped Toronto make the playoffs in each of those nine years. They made it out of the first round twice and never made it to the Conference Finals. I'm not going to put that all on Marner, but he never elevated his play when it mattered most.

At a certain point, something had to change for the Maple Leafs to make the deep run they've been dreaming of. Not giving the guy who has constantly disappeared in the playoffs an eight-year, $96 million deal is the right move.

With that being said, this being the right move doesn't make this departure any easier. Again, Marner was supposed to be a Leaf for life and the reason they broke their Cup drought. Watching his tenure end with a heartfelt letter stings. He's a great Leaf, but his tenure will be defined more by the failures than successes, which is unfortunate.