With Patrice Bergeron now retired, Mitch Marner may be the best two-way forward in the NHL
Long has Patrice Bergeron been viewed as the NHL's top two-way player. His 6 Selke Trophies, awarded to the league's best defensive forward, are a pretty good indicator of his success over the years.
Mitch Marner is not only the Leafs' best defensive forward, but being named a Selke Trophy finalist this past season also means that he was one of the NHL's elite defensive forwards. He also happens to be a multi-time 95+ point player, with back-to-back 97 and 99-point seasons in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Marner's 99-point season in 2022-23 had him finish in a tie with Jack Hughes for 12th in league scoring, behind the likes of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Nathan MacKinnon and Matthew Tkachuk, among a few others. That's pretty elite competition. However, of all of the players ahead of Marner, not many are also viewed as defensive stalwarts among forwards. Marner is also the only high-end penalty killer in the bunch.
The 2015 4th overall pick averaged 2:17 per game on the PK last season. Not one player ahead of him in scoring even broke 2:00, with the closest being Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who averaged 1:52 per game on the PK in 2022-23. Marner not only out-hit Nuge 53-48 last season, but he also blocked nearly twice as many shots, with 45 blocks to Nuge's 26. In fact, only one forward who finished ahead of Marner in scoring had blocked more shots - Elias Pettersson in Vancouver.
You can make a pretty good case and a very compelling argument that now that Bergeron has called it a career after 19 incredible seasons, Marner is the new top two-way player in hockey.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 29 | 305 ANSWERS With Patrice Bergeron now retired, Mitch Marner may be the best two-way forward in the NHL Will Mitch Marner finally reach 100 points in 2023-24? | ||
| Absolutely | 257 | 84.3 % |
| Not a chance | 48 | 15.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
