On Sunday in Nashville, we saw something we've never seen before in hockey and, of course, Marner was responsible for the play. Marner was posted up near his own blueline to try to help with the breakout when the puck came around to him. The problem was, it was just a little too high to get a stick on it. Marner, being the wizard that he is decided to get creative and attempt a "header", which worked like a charm. It also helped to create an excellent scoring chance.
Following practice on Wednesday, several Leafs commented on the play. Calle Jarnkrok was complementary of Marner's ability to always seem to be able to make something out of nothing. Justin Holl and Morgan Rielly, however, used the play as a reason to dunk on Marner.
Meanwhile, Holl said that it was "almost the greatest play of all-time", but joked that we're lucky they didn't score because of how frequently it would have been replayed.
Marner is still just 25 years old, so I can imagine we're going to have plenty of unique plays added to his highlight reel over the course of his career. I'm sure that, at some point, he'll do something that winds up being replayed into oblivion.
POLL | ||
MARS 29 | 117 ANSWERS Mitch Marner's teammates dunk on him for his unique play during Sunday's game Was Marner's header play one of the most unique things you've ever seen attempted in hockey? | ||
Yes | 97 | 82.9 % |
No | 10 | 8.5 % |
It was both lucky and stupid, really | 10 | 8.5 % |
List of polls |