This version of Mitch Marner could bring the Leafs a Cup
The Toronto Maple Leafs do not exactly have an issue with goalscoring, boasting the likes of Auston Matthews, John Tavares and William Nylander - all of whom have 30+ goal seasons under their belts - but the emergence of another young star as a goal scoring threat could be the x-factor that can help push the Leafs over the top.
Mitch Marner, who scored a pair of goals on Monday, including the game-tying and game-winning goals, became the first Leaf to record an 8-game goal streak this season, which is impressive in its own right, but even more impressive that the pass-first Marner was able to accomplish the feat before even Matthews and Tavares this season.
Marner, 24, attributes his time away due to his shoulder injury and his bout with COVID-19 as a way to reset mentally and to come back refreshed and with the mindset of a more complete player. His defensive prowess is always on display, particularly on the penalty kill, but the one thing that Marner has seemed to lack in previous season is a willingness to shoot the puck - something that he has done a lot more since returning to the lineup, and it's paying off in a big way.
The Markham, Ontario native is earning every penny of his $10.903M cap hit this season, but especially over the course of the last 8 games, where he has posted an incredible 19 points, including 10 points in his last 3 games. There is no player in the NHL who is hotter than Marner over that stretch. There is one thing about Marner's recent surge that cannot be overlooked or overstated. These types of stretches generate confidence - and a confident Mitch Marner is a scary Mitch Marner.
Marner, while heavily criticized over the past few seasons, is still a very young player who is still very much learning as he goes and growing and developing as a player. He has all the tools to be a top winger in the National Hockey League and he is already widely considered to be one of the top-5 RW's in the league. If this kid intends to keep shooting the lights out, the Leafs won't need to add an impact forward at the deadline. Instead, GM Kyle Dubas can use any accrued cap space to add an impact defenseman, which may end up pushing the Leafs past the first round and on a lengthy and dangerous run in the postseason.
The last thing I wanted to mention here is that the types of goals that Marner is scoring.. a lot of them are very important goals. These are goals of the game-tying and game-winning variety and those are the types of goals that you pay your franchise players to produce. In the last 4 games alone, Marner has scored 6 goals. Of those 6 goals, 2 were game-tying goals and 1 was a game-winner. If we look even further back to the Anaheim and Long Island games, Marner scored the opening goal in each of those games as well - one of them a shorthanded marker, and we all know the importance of getting on the board first and setting the tone early.
Mitchy has had his fair share of ups and downs, like any young player does. If we're seeing Marner finally reach his full potential this year, the Leafs are poised to do some real damage in the postseason. These guys felt the sting of that 7-game series loss to the Habs last year and they don't want to feel that again. If this Mitch Marner shows up in the playoffs, heaven help the opposing teams and Godspeed to the Leafs.
