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Is Marner the best player on the Leafs?

Menzinger said:
Marner was amazing, but he wasn’t better than Matthews for the bulk of last season.

Matthews scored at a higher pace, in tougher minutes, a tougher position, and scored more goals despite playing less games.
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Matthews is awesome. His talent is huge. In my experience, talent isn't what anyone should be overly proud of. It is what you do with it. Can he play better? Of course he can...as can Marner. At the worse extreme I remember Al Iafrate. Hugely talented player who didn't reach his potential. This is a game of execution. In that, Marner has had a great run and like Matthews, has been the best player on the ice more than once. Success in most things are less than 30% talent and more than 70% effort and will. It is because of this that I won't declare who will have the best career. It doesn't square with everything I have seen throughout my life
 
Semantics said:
I don't know, I think OV is pretty overrated. Not that he isn't an elite elite player, and one of the best goal scorers ever, but Kuznetsov and Backstrom are no slouches, and I think as centers they have just as much impact on the game as OV and drive the play a more.

Marner does narrows the positional gap a lot though just because he's so much better than most wingers at bringing the puck up the ice.
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Marner will always be the ugly step sister for most of the fan base. He will be the Taylor Hall to McDavid. Never truly appreciated because of the Matthews hysteria. Once Hall left people see what he actually is. A winger that is better than almost every centre in the league, same happened in Chicago where Kane never got the respect Toews did. Yet Kane now looks far superior. Time will tell here. You have a franchise centre who has been given every opportunity by his coach and media and a franchise winger who has been treated completely different.
 
Nithoniniel said:
Marner's great ending to last season had little to do with linemates at even strength, as his production rate there was pretty much the same. He hit a hot streak driven by PP success, got a ton of minutes as a result, and kept on producing.

In any other case, I would take the guy with the superior performance in the better sample size over the guy with better performance in a smaller, more recent sample, especially when the latter comes with sustainability issues.
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If you were to make a calculated guess I would agree but it isn't a given or fated. Success is a multivariable equation that includes timely success, effort and some luck on top of skill and training. I'm just not ready to raise Matthews hockey sweater into the rafters before Marner until I've seen more of their careers
 
ZEBROA said:
Marner is a tadilly tad overrated player at the moment...

Why is that? Is it the hounddog steemengine fun to watch style?

Matthews is more boring style to watch, but he is better. How anyone can miss that is flabbergasting.

Anything can happen under the season ,but going in to this season Matthews is nr1 , dont know exactly were Tavares stands if he challange the nr1 place.

Marner may prove me wrong , but then it is not based on previous performance.
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Matthews excels at shooting and puck protection. In skating and vision I would but Marner ahead of him. As Marner grows stronger, he will definitely get better at his weaker attributes. Probably not Matthews elite skill better bit perhaps enough to lift the balance of his skills above Matthews. To be clear, just because Matthews is on the team it won't affect the "opportunity" of Marner having a HOF career.
He is tracking well so far. If Marner can play at a point a game, just try to find me an RFA comparable of 69 and 82 points with relatively modest TOI.
 
I think Marner finishes the year with the most points on the team.

Not sure if that makes him the best.

But most valuable? Possibly.
 
Last year Matthews was our best player in the regular season, Marner our best player in the playoffs (but, tiny sample size). This year, who knows! Matthews or Tavares are the obvious picks, but IMO Marner has a shot too. My money is personally on JT, but it could go any way, these 3 are all crazy talented.

I do like how Marner consistently steps it up and dominates in the big games, or even big moments in games, he’s a serious competitor who really rises to the challenge in a way that few NHLers do. I think Marner will improve the most of those 3 over the next few years, BUT he’s also starting from the furthest back, so hard to say if he actually passes JT/Matthews.
 
Tak7 said:
I think Marner finishes the year with the most points on the team.

Not sure if that makes him the best.

But most valuable? Possibly.
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last year 30% of his points came from the PP, Matthews is now on the #1 PP.
 
Matthews looks like hockey's Lebron James. That effortless athleticism in that size package is ridiculous to watch, and he's been backing off players a ton in the offseason. It looks like he learned to play the game on another planet.

Marner looks like a modern Gretzky out there. He seems to be dictating the game with greater ease and comfort with each passing day.

In comparison to these guys, Tavares almost looks human.
 
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Stephen said:
Matthews looks like hockey's Lebron James. That effortless athleticism in that size package is ridiculous to watch, and he's been backing off players a ton in the offseason. It looks like he learned to play the game on another planet.

Marner looks like a modern Gretzky out there. He seems to be dictating the game with greater ease and comfort with each passing day.

In comparison to these guys, Tavares almost looks human.
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Was almost thinking the same thing. However, I would rank them

1. Matthews
2a) Tavares
2b) Marner

I think they are all close enough that any of them could be the best, but people have to remember that so far Matthews has not only easily been our best offensive player per game, but he's also been by far our best goal scorer, defensive forward and even strength player. Those could all possibly change this season, but I wouldn't bank on it.
 
authentic said:
Was almost thinking the same thing. However, I would rank them

1. Matthews
2a) Tavares
2b) Marner

I think they are all close enough that any of them could be the best, but people have to remember that so far Matthews has not only easily been our best offensive player per game, but he's also been by far our best goal scorer, defensive forward and even strength player. Those could all possibly change this season, but I wouldn't bank on it.
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With the exception of a team like Pittsburgh, I think a lot of other teams would love to have Matthews, Tavares and Marner all playing for them and I figure it doesn't matter where some people would rank them. So this is a great time to be a Maple Leafs fan.
 
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1. Matthew
2. Tavares
3. Rielly/Nylander/Marner/Andersen

Last number is interchangeable. Marner is sooooooooooo overrated because he dangles.
 
nope MM is our 4th best player behind JT,AM,FA then MM

one could even argue MR gives MM a run for his money.
 
Iapyi said:
I think Marner is the straw that stirs the drink. He is Toronto's best player after Tavares right now.
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You really believe Matthews is 3rd best on the team? Honestly I don't think there's any chance of that. If anything Tavares will be 3rd best.
 
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