There are very few players with the hockey IQ and creativity of Mitch Marner, per Keefe
Whether you thought it was spectacular or not, all the talk after the Leafs' win in Seattle Monday night was about Marner's assist on David Kampf's shorthanded goal. Even almost a week later, it stands out as one of the best plays of the week. Since entering the league, and even dating back to his time with the OHL's London Knights, Marner has been known as a playmaker and having extraordinary vision on the ice, creating plays that look seemingly impossible, easy.
Under Babcock, we saw plays like the one from Monday night on a fairly consistent basis, but there was always some hesitation or questioning of his own abilities, likely due to the fear of Babcock's old school coaching mentality. Under Keefe however, Marner has been fearless in trying creative ways to gain or maintain possession of the puck in dangerous areas of the ice. Do they always work out and are there times where the opposing team scores off of one of his attempts? Yes - but creativity is a big part of his game and Keefe has given him the ability to showcase it without having to worry too much about consequences.
His assist on Monday night could have very easily been turned back up ice in an odd man rush by Seattle had Giordano beaten Kampf to the puck. Both he and Marner would have been behind all 5 Seattle players leaving just the Leafs' two defensemen to play a 5-on-2 opportunity.
When asked about whether he has been able to coach many players with Marner's creativity at practice earlier this week, Keefe had this to say:
Considering the number of players that are known for their hockey IQ, this is quite high praise of Marner from Keefe and provides Marner with some additional confidence that Keefe isn't worried about him making risky plays or not scoring a whole lot like earlier in the season. Perhaps that's one of the primary reasons that he's experienced so much success since coming back from the injury and his bout with COVID-19.
There's few things scarier than a confident Mitch Marner. Hopefully the 24-year-old will be able to bring some of that creativity and confidence to the table when the games really start to matter in April. He'll have to if the Leafs want to have any hope of breaking the first round curse.
