Mitch Marner is opening up about some of the harassment he dealt with in his final months as a Toronto Maple Leafs player.

In a sit-down with TSN’s Mark Masters at Hockey Canada’s Olympic orientation camp on Thursday, Marner called his exit from Toronto after nine years “bittersweet.” The star winger signed an eight-year, $96 million contract with the Vegas Golden Knights on July 1 as part of a blockbuster sign-and-trade agreement after months of speculation around the pending unrestricted free agent.

In mid-May, the Leafs’ second-round playoff exit against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers led to Marner being targeted by Toronto fans on social media. He told TSN that wasn’t the deciding factor for leaving, but that it was “tough sometimes because it’s everywhere.”

Marner explained that shortly after getting home after the Leafs’ 6-1 Game 7 loss at home, his father-in-law called to say there were fans posting the family’s home address online.

“(He) goes: ‘I just want to let you know we’ve got people sending us screenshots of a guy posting your address online saying that if people want to come pay us a visit and say, you know, their goodbyes, in a quotation way, here’s the address.’ And it was a little tough, obviously,” Marner said. “I mean, we kind of dealt with it for the last two years in a way. The market’s very passionate. They love the team. I mean, I know it. I was born and raised there. I’ve been a part of the Leafs Nation for a long time. But, yeah, when your family’s safety comes into question, especially having a new son, I don’t think it’s acceptable.”

It wasn’t the only incident Marner dealt with in Toronto over the years, and it led to the family having full-time security posted at their home after the postseason.

“We had people throwing stuff in his yard,” Marner’s agent, Darren Ferris, told the 100% Hockey podcast earlier this week. “Someone actually posted his address (on social media) once. We had to get it taken down with the help of Leafs security (staff). … And there was another occasion where there was a death threat, and we traced it to a kid in Oakville and the police went. People think they can hide behind social media, but it’s easy to, even when you put up a fake name, it’s easy to follow, it’s easy to find out where it’s coming from.

“You’re always concerned. You can’t just say, ‘Ah, it’s just social media.’ Because if something happened, that would be the biggest regret you could ever have. So you’ve got to take every one of those seriously. It’s unfortunate. What happens is it builds up and it builds up. And you know they attack him, his family, his father. The misinformation out there, it’s ridiculous.”

Ferris added that his agency had hired former NHL security personnel with policing backgrounds to deal with these situations. “They do a lot of that for us to protect our clients.”

Marner leaves Toronto as one of the most prolific offensive players in franchise history, as his 520 career assists and 741 career points rank fourth and fifth, respectively, among Leafs. Toronto made the playoffs in all nine of Marner’s seasons after he was picked fourth overall in 2015, but the Leafs only advanced past the first round twice and never made the conference finals.

(Photo: R.J. Johnston / Toronto Star via Getty Images)