Nic Roy's First Leafs Comments Have Fans Buzzing, More Passion Than Marner Ever Showed

With the craziness of the Mitch Marner saga seemingly all settled now, the Toronto Maple Leafs lose him to the Vegas Golden Knights, but in the meantime were able to bring in Nicolas Roy to help shore up some of their offensive holes.

He spoke to the media for the first time since being traded and seemed more than elated to get things going with the Maple Leafs, and is excited to get going to both Auston Matthews and William Nylander to see how he can better improve.

But he also explained that he knows how driven the city is for a championship, and said that he wants to be a part of something special; showing a lot of that ever important passion in the meantime:

Growing up a Maple Leafs fan too, Roy also admitted that his favorite player growing up was franchise legend Mats Sundin but switched allegiances once the icon left Toronto.

While he's not the level of Marner in terms of offense, Roy plays a very hard game, not afraid to get in the dirty areas and use his length to his advantage.

Plus, he's an underrated playmaker, and if he can find some chemistry with the other stars on the power play; it could spark a huge boost in his offense.

Roy, 28, had 31 points in 71 games last season for the Golden Knights, but is only one season removed from a 28-assist, 41-point season.

The fact of the matter is Toronto is going to be trying to play more aggressively in terms of forechecking and defense, and that means less goals are going to be scored.

But if Roy; a player elite in transition, can get things moving out of the zone, and give guys like Bobby McMann or Nicholas Robertson more outlets; they could get things going as well.

For fans who are looking for Marner's offensive output from Roy, you're going to be out of luck unfortunately. 100-point players don't grow on trees after all.

But Roy, who already seems to bleed blue and white, seems to be all about the passion. The main ingredient in Toronto's new game plan.