Darryl Sittler on 2025-26 Maple Leafs: ‘Maybe this is the year finally those hockey gods will be with us’

Toronto Maple Leafs legend Darryl Sittler is hopeful that his beloved team will finally have luck on their side in the 2025-26 campaign.

Sittler attended the Leafs & Legends Charity Golf Classic, where he provided some advice to the current Maple Leafs as the season is slated to get underway.

“First of all, enjoy the day,” Sittler said. “Today is one of the last days they have before they start training camp, and I know every season you look forward to training camp,” he said. “ We got new players on the team, so you’re looking to blend in with them and obviously have a good training camp and a good year. Look forward to it. Maybe this is the year finally those hockey gods will be with us and we could win a few rounds and challenge for the Cup.”

Sittler had his fair share of chances to help guide the Leafs to ultimate glory with his best chance coming in the 1977-78 season, where the Leafs made it to the third round but were swept by the Montreal Canadiens. Despite coming up short of the elusive prize, he always gave it his all en route to filling up the franchise record books during his playing days.

Though some of his records have since fallen to this current generation of the Leafs, Sittler doesn’t mind that he is being overtaken on the leaderboards.

“These guys are all beating my records I’ve had over the last few years,” he said. “I sent a few texts over to them saying ‘Congratulations’, which is great. It’s awesome to see them do what they do.”

One such player who was rewriting the Leafs’ record books was Mitch Marner, who became the fastest player in team history to reach 700 career points and just the fourth in franchise history to have a 100+ point campaign. He won’t be able to climb up any further since he was dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights in a sign-and-trade on June 30th.

Sittler felt that the players left behind would take some getting used to life without Marner on the roster.

“ I’m sure it’ll be an adjustment for the current guys. I mean, Mitch was such a part of our team. He’s such a great player,” he said. “You talk about his goals and assists and his creativeness, which is awesome to watch. But he was very good defensively and he was an all-around player. I guess for Mitch, sometimes these things happen, and he’s moving on. He’ll do very well – I think – in Las Vegas and we’ll miss him here.”

When asked how to handle the loss of a marquee player, Sittler stressed the importance of rallying around the new arrivals and remembering that the logo on your chest is the most important. That will come from the leaders left behind, with Auston Matthews leading the charge since he is the current captain of the team.

Given that he was a former Leafs captain himself, Sittler knows what Matthews might be going through and has complimented the way he has taken the responsibility seriously.

“There’s a lot of pressure that comes with being the captain. People look at you as kind of the guy that is the leader,” he said. “When things are going well, you get a lot of credit, probably more than you deserve. When you’re losing, you get a lot of crap, probably more than you deserve. Auston’s a good guy and he’s being doing a great job.”