TORONTO — Ahead of the most anticipated regular season game on the National Hockey League calendar, a throng of 20 reporters are gathered in the gold-plated lobby of The Ritz-Carlton. Mitch Marner is about to return to Toronto for the first time as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights, a seismic event given his stature as the sixth-leading scorer in Toronto Maple Leafs history.

Mark Stone, Kelly McCrimmon and other Golden Knights personnel lightly gawk at the assembled media, as if to silently remark that Friday’s contest is more than just an ordinary date in the 82-game schedule. Six minutes ahead of his privately listed media availability, Marner walks into the lobby and takes an elevator alone, before speaking to reporters on a fourth floor conference room.

Marner’s late-stage relationship with the Maple Leafs completely eroded during his final season. While the 28-year-old winger is trying to project an air of confidence, it doesn’t translate well, and Marner conducts himself through the scrum with light defiance sprinkled through his answers.

“I feel like I got asked that in the summer, I feel like I answered that,” Marner said, when asked to reflect on his time with the Maple Leafs. “I don’t want to look back anymore, I don’t want to look in the past. I feel like if you look back, you’ll not focus on what’s in front of you. I feel like I answered that in the summertime.”

Marner did an unconvincing job of telling the assembled media that Friday would be just another hockey game. By now, Marner is surely sick of the questions about his return, but it’s also part of the territory that comes with leaving an Original Six franchise on acrimonious terms.

“I would say nothing unusual. Try to get up, and get my body moving here, and get myself ready for another game,” Marner said.

It will be unusual, and there will be boos. Marner was already booed by the Leafs’ travelling fan base on January 15, when the teams square off in Vegas. And while Marner was genuine about his appreciation for his Leafs’ tenure, he seemed like a man in deep conflict about his relationship with the city and franchise writ large.

Although Marner came off as lightly combative, he was also honest. Marner’s family will be in attendance and he’s nervous on their behalf, which makes sense, considering that a negligible faction of the fan base crossed the line upon his departure. It will be a raucous environment at Scotiabank Arena, where Marner may get the most hostile reception of any Toronto athlete since Vince Carter in 2004.

“We’ll see as soon as warm-ups start, but just excited to go back there. That building has meant a lot to me, so I’m excited to go back to it.”

Marner’s scrum concluded after seven minutes, disappearing through the small crowd of reporters. He will take centre stage during what will be a hostile environment. And though Marner may try to pretend it’s just another game, it’s anything but another game, if the gold chandeliers and the private nature of his media availability was any indication. A lightly defiant Marner returns to Toronto, perhaps the same as he’s ever been.