Toronto Maple Leafs' Mitch Marner welcomes baby amid playoffs

Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Mitch Marner is having a playoff to remember, both on and off the ice.

Not only will he play in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for just the second time in his career, but he has also become a dad. Marner was not on the ice for Leafs' practice on Sunday after his wife Stephanie gave birth to the couple's first child earlier in the morning.

Marner is now a proud father of a baby boy, though they have not yet shared his name publicly.

The Marners announced they were pregnant with their first child in February. He is the second of Toronto's "core four" to have a baby, alongside John Tavares, who has three with his wife Aryne. Auston Matthews and William Nylander are not yet fathers.

Marner and Stephanie have been married since July 2023, after the longtime couple tied the knot at a ceremony at Peller Estates Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Though Marner missed practice, he should not be missing any of the Maple Leafs' upcoming playoff games against the Florida Panthers. Due to winning the Atlantic Division, the Leafs will host the first two games of the series starting on Monday with Game 1. 

That is a stroke of good luck for the Marner family as Mitch did not have to travel to see his wife give birth to their child, and he can have some extended time with his new son instead of rushing back to rejoin the team.

While Leafs fans are sure to be happy for their superstar, the hope is that Marner can channel this newfound dad energy into the upcoming series. So far in the playoffs, Marner has a goal and eight points through six games.

We will have to wait and see if that dad energy can help Toronto exact revenge on a Panthers team that tossed them aside in the second round back in 2023.