If it weren’t for COVID-19, there is a good chance the Toronto Maple Leafs would be in the midst of an exciting first round series and star Mitch Marner would be doing his best to end a Stanley Cup drought that dates back to 1967.
Instead, the Markham native is isolating at home with his girlfriend and wondering when, or if, the NHL season will even resume.
On Wednesday, he spoke with CP24 Breakfast about how he is killing the time and how he is using his foundation to help out front-line workers.
On adjusting to life in isolation and keeping fit at home
When it first happened I kind of just relaxed and didn’t work out that much but then I sort of realized that this thing was going to last a lot than what everyone thought so I started trying to just ride the bike, we had one of the Leafs guys bring over some weights and I am just trying to keep up as much as I can with my conditioning and strength. But it is obviously hard as I don’t have the full system like we do at the rink. I try to get up before 10 a.m. and sometimes that slips a little but I try to get up before 10 a.m., get a breakfast in and go downstairs and get a workout in. I try to be done all that by 12 p.m. and hopefully by 12:30 we (Marner and his girlfriend) can take our dog out to the path behind our house and take her for a walk. I think it is important to be outside and get fresh air and sun right now but at the same time we are making sure when we come across people we are keeping our distance. Zeus (his dog) always wants to run up and get some pets and some love but we try to keep our distance.
On his hopes for what a resumption of the season might look like
If we do play regular season games hopefully we get a training camp or something sort of like that so we can get back into game shape and that mental mind. If we went right into the playoffs it would be pretty hectic and a little bit of a war. There would be a lot of teams who don’t like each other playing in that first round and they would get physical quickly and ramp things up, so whatever happens hopefully we just get a little time beforehand to be with our teammates and get our rhythm back.
On keeping in touch with Leafs brass
Every other week it seems like things are getting pushed back further and futehrt but we are just trying to stay in shape and ready in case something does happen. I have talked to (Head Coach) Sheldon (Keefe) a couple times just about how things are going and I know our coaching staff are watching a lot of video right now to see what we can do better and stuff like that and that will probably be sent out (to players) soon. I am sure when we get that I will be just binge watching all those things to see what I can improve at and get better at.
On developing new interests during the pandemic
We got a new barbecue that my dad gave to us as a gift and cooked on that for the first time three or four days ago. Just some lamb and some chicken and stuff like that. I have used it a few times before but I am trying to get that more on my resume.
On using his foundation to raise money to buy frontline workers meals
We are trying to just give back to as many people we can that need it right now and trying to help out. Obviously right now with this whole COVID thing there has been a lot of things that have gone down so for us we are just trying to get meals out to people and to help out however we can.
