General manager Brad Treliving held a media availability at the Ford Performance Centre on Tuesday.

The Mitch Marner era officially came to an end on Tuesday with the Leafs signing the pending unrestricted free agent to an eight-year, $96-million contract before trading him to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for centre Nicolas Roy.

"When a player of Mitch's magnitude moves away, that's never a fun day," said Leafs general manager Brad Treliving. "But we were able to recoup a player who I think can really help us."

"It's sad to see him go," Leafs winger Matthew Knies told James Duthie during an interview on TSN's Free Agent Frenzy broadcast. "He's an incredible player, incredible person. Yeah, I wasn't excited to see that at all. You know, I think getting to play with him for the past two years, it's been incredible. And getting to learn from him, I can't thank him enough for what he did."

The trade broke on Monday, but Marner's departure had seemed inevitable since the season ended and the star winger did not declare a desire to stick with his hometown team. How did it come to this?

"Well, that's probably for another day," said Treliving, who just completed his second season with the Leafs.

"Ultimately, the player has a choice."

The Leafs wanted to negotiate an extension with Marner, but he did not want to engage during the season. When it became clear that he may not return, the Leafs looked at a potential trade with the Carolina Hurricanes at the deadline, but Marner declined to waive his no-move clause.

"Obviously, as is his right and was negotiated [by former general manager Kyle Dubas], Mitch has a full no-move," Treliving noted. "So he controlled the process."

Asked if the Leafs offered Marner more than the $12-million annual average value he will receive in Vegas, Treliving said he did not think it would be right to share any details from their discussions.

The 55-year-old executive stuck to the high road throughout his more than 15 minute media session, which was dominated by questions about Marner and the hole left behind. Treliving refused to even acknowledge frustration with how everything played out.

"I don't know if I'm frustrated," he said. "No. Mitch is a really good player. Where he was in his contractual obligation, he had the right to control what he wanted to control and that's his right. We move forward."

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Marner produced 741 points in nine seasons with the Leafs, which puts him fifth on the franchise scoring list.

"He's going to go down as one of the great Leafs," Treliving said. "The statistics prove it."

In other words, this is not an easy guy to replace. Marner finished fifth in league scoring last season with a career high 102 points. He played in all situations and led all Toronto forwards in average ice time.

"Our job now is to look forward to how we address the roster concerns," Treliving said. "When I say concerns, obviously, Mitch was a top-six forward, and we haven’t replaced that........

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