Tribute Marner Appreciation Thread

[ZEBROA]

We need players that thrive during playoffs. Rather a bland player during regular season (but good enough to get to playoffs) that step up during playoffs. We need at least 1 or two players like that per line.

We cant have a coach taking back stuff they say about players. Then said players need to find a other place to work. If that is the case. The preasure is to high for Marner. And he can and will not play his best as long as he cant tackle that side of him. No one play there best when they are frustrated or put them self down. And no one around you get better energy or strenght from that kind of behavior. Marners biggest enemy is the mental side.

The preasure is insane in Toronto so u might need players with insane mental toughness. No fear No self blame, just leave it all on the ice. It is hard to find.

 

[Aashir Mallik]

While I think the Leafs are more likely to trade Marner than Matthews, I think they're more likely to regret it.

Marner has "the next Nikita Kucherov" written all over him.... an elite passer, with great puck control, who's shot and scoring ability seems to be consistently improving. Take him away from Matthews, where it's very often "get the puck to Matthews", and I think he flourishes. Now, whether he can do that under the pressure of playing in Toronto -- a different question.

He is no where near “the next kucherov”. There’s two things they share, both RW and both primarily playmakers. Kucherov is significantly better at both. He turns a 75 point player in Brayden Point into a 95 point 50 goal scorer. Marner played with Matthews and had him pacing for his second worst statistical year since entering the league.

Marner is no where near as deceptive as kucherov, kucherov on the pp is as deadly a 1-2 counter as Mcdavid. His famous slap pass into the slot, his ability to fool goalies, he’s actually good shot, he’s a 35 goal career guy vs a 26 goal guy in Marner. Kucherov is a better goal scorer in the playoffs than Marner is in the regular season

Kucherov has also got that dirtiness in him. He’s not afraid to go after a guy, whether it’s dirty or not. Marner is afraid to throw a punch at a guy pummeling his face in, can’t say too much though because Matthews got his shit ran by stamkos and nylander thinks a face wash is a fight. Tavares is too “civil” to fight.

Marner isn’t going to “burn” us by becoming better on another team. He will only do that if he goes to a team where he’s surrounded by more talent than ours and his Casper the friendly ghost act won’t matter.

 

[Arzak]

MT was Huberdeau, until Huberdeau became MT

True but I would still put my money on Huberdeau exploding in playoffs vs Marner .

One of the main reasons Marner gets his points is his speed. But that is the very same reason he keeps himself intentionally at 140 pounds. He could bulk up and be more effective in playoffs, but it might cost him few regular season points/bit of speed and that's not worth the hustle.

 

[Arzak]

While I think the Leafs are more likely to trade Marner than Matthews, I think they're more likely to regret it.

Marner has "the next Nikita Kucherov" written all over him.... an elite passer, with great puck control, who's shot and scoring ability seems to be consistently improving. Take him away from Matthews, where it's very often "get the puck to Matthews", and I think he flourishes. Now, whether he can do that under the pressure of playing in Toronto -- a different question.

It's not even summer yet and you already forget that while Mitch might be one of the best playmakers in the league, he can't shoot the puck. Wrist shot - weak af. Slap shot - weak af.

on top of that

He got neither the size nor the mean streak in him.

 

[Notsince67]

And you're wasting all our time by posting this. All losses allegedly being Marner's fault is a figment of your imagination. The blame seems to be going around surprinsgly evenly this go - around, I'm seeing a hell of a lot more trade Matthews takes than I am trade Marner takes.

Is that right? The claims of Marner disappearing...the focus on game 3 to prove Marner didn't do much in the playoffs...to name a few
This is pretty laughable.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Lmao. Stop wasting my time with stupid propaganda.
MARNER 554 PTS IN 507 GAMES

KUCHEROV 547 POINTS IN 515 GAMES

Hart, Ted Lindsay, Art Ross, playoff performance. Propaganda my ass.

 

[IPS]

Hart, Ted Lindsay, Art Ross, playoff performance. Propaganda my ass.

160 points in 142 games

47 points in 50 games.

Marner doesn't touch Kucherov. Marner apparantly can't produce more cause he's getting goalie'd in the playoffs while Kucherov plays all the same teams and still does his thing. I still laugh how this goes over some folks' heads.

 

[IPS]

Is that right? The claims of Marner disappearing...the focus on game 3 to prove Marner didn't do much in the playoffs...to name a few
This is pretty laughable.

Does Marner not deserve the criticism?

Do you feel there's not enough criticism towards Matthews/Nylander too or something?

 

[Notsince67]

Hart, Ted Lindsay, Art Ross, playoff performance. Propaganda my ass.

Uhuh. Awards won all in 1 year. I thought you wanted to scrutinize the whole career...actually you did. Moving the goal post yet again.
So typical from a backpeddling play both sides huckster like yourself. Tell us....how long into next year will you be licking Marners ass?

 

[Notsince67]

Does Marner not deserve the criticism?

Do you feel there's not enough criticism towards Matthews/Nylander too or something?

Marner deserves plenty of criticism but not the kind of vitriolic Marner is soft/lazy/choker type we see here to justify a trade at pennies on the dollar. It's so ridiculous I can't believe the childishness of some posters

 

[ACC1224]

Can't recall any poster ever expressing this about Marner?
Perhaps you have a hard time dealing with posters who don't agree with you or are generally positive.

You can't recall because they don't exist.

 

[LeafGrief]

You gotta score more goals than the other team to win. Points are the single most important stat and it's not even up for discussion. But a hockey team is more than just the sum of its players and their points tallies. You need guys who will do it all, no job is too small or unimportant, and there must be balance. The issue with Marner is that by nature of his point production, he is expected to be a leader on the team. He also wears the A on his shirt that indicates he's a leader. Hockey players look to their best players to lead them and while Marner can put points on the board with the best of them, he's not a strong leader. He disappears when the going gets tough, and that failure in leadership runs down to every rung of the team. What motivates the grinders to work hard for the logo if the big gun is shooting duds? A team needs contributions from everyone in their roles and Marner chose the mantle of leadership, a role in which he cannot deliver.

 

[Gabriel426]

MM is a great player but he is not close to Kuch’s prime. The fact that Kuch was a beast in TB’s run the past three years(excluding this playoffs), is something that no recent Leafs can compare to and that’s including Dougie in 93 or Sundin.

MM didn’t had a good playoffs but so were every other core players not name Reilly.
Don’t recall anyone blaming MM solely on the playoffs lost.

 

[Gary Nylund]

He is no where near “the next kucherov”. There’s two things they share, both RW and both primarily playmakers. Kucherov is significantly better at both. He turns a 75 point player in Brayden Point into a 95 point 50 goal scorer. Marner played with Matthews and had him pacing for his second worst statistical year since entering the league.

Marner is no where near as deceptive as kucherov, kucherov on the pp is as deadly a 1-2 counter as Mcdavid. His famous slap pass into the slot, his ability to fool goalies, he’s actually good shot, he’s a 35 goal career guy vs a 26 goal guy in Marner. Kucherov is a better goal scorer in the playoffs than Marner is in the regular season

Kucherov has also got that dirtiness in him. He’s not afraid to go after a guy, whether it’s dirty or not. Marner is afraid to throw a punch at a guy pummeling his face in, can’t say too much though because Matthews got his shit ran by stamkos and nylander thinks a face wash is a fight. Tavares is too “civil” to fight.

Marner isn’t going to “burn” us by becoming better on another team. He will only do that if he goes to a team where he’s surrounded by more talent than ours and his Casper the friendly ghost act won’t matter.

All this is spot on. I've heaped a ton of praise on Marner over the last two seasons, it looked like he became a better player, improved his shot etc. but after game 3 in Florida, my opinion of him as a player took a huge hit.

When it's the biggest playoff game of the year, you're a veteran player in your prime and according to many people the best player on the team, the "engine" of the team etc. and instead of raising your level of play and leading by example, you're arguably the worst player on the ice and play arguably the worst game of your entire career, that screams mental weakness to me.

Marner's a great player but unfortunately it's hard to believe that he'll ever be able to raise his level of play in the playoffs the way Gilmour did in 93 or the way Kucherov has done in the past or the way Tkachuk is doing right now. If he's not traded I hope he proves me wrong but I don't see it happening and let's be real here, he's only got a couple more peak years left and if he can't do it when he's at his peak, the chances of him doing it when he starts to decline aren't good.

A few fanboys here like to go on about how he's one of the greatest Maple Leafs ever and how he'll be in the HOF and they'll go on about statues and whatever else but I'd trade all that if he could be one of the greatest players not in Maple Leafs history, but in the NHL for even just one season. That's just me though, some people seem to be content with regular season success and that's fine, he's a joy to watch when he's on, I get that. It's a team game though and I'm all about the playoffs so regular season points are a meh burger to me and as the playoff losses pile up, it's getting harder and harder to GAF about anything that happens during the regular season.

 

[studebaker17]

MM is a great player but he is not close to Kuch’s prime. The fact that Kuch was a beast in TB’s run the past three years(excluding this playoffs), is something that no recent Leafs can compare to and that’s including Dougie in 93 or Sundin.

MM didn’t had a good playoffs but so were every other core players not name Reilly.
Don’t recall anyone blaming MM solely on the playoffs lost.

I'm a kucherov fan but he has never had a playoff close to dougie in either 93 or 94 . Leafs go to the finals in either of those years and Gilmour wins the smyth even in a loss imo .
93 as good as he was , 99 was even better but that was always the case.

Comparing marner and Kutch . Think offensively Kutch is or was the better player. He just has more tools in the tool box . Then the intangibles of his dirty and gritty side .
Defensively though marners in another stratosphere.

 

[Gabriel426]

I'm a kucherov fan but he has never had a playoff close to dougie in either 93 or 94 . Leafs go to the finals in either of those years and Gilmour wins the smyth even in a loss imo .
93 as good as he was , 99 was even better but that was always the case.

Comparing marner and Kutch . Think offensively Kutch is or was the better player. He just has more tools in the tool box . Then the intangibles of his dirty and gritty side .
Defensively though marners in another stratosphere.

Pretty much agree with the Kuch and MM part.
To me Kuch can hurt the other team in so many ways. If it wasn’t for McD, Kuch is arguably the best player in the league in the past few seasons. I think he was far from his best this season and still managed over 100 pts.

 

[New User Name]

While I think the Leafs are more likely to trade Marner than Matthews, I think they're more likely to regret it.

Marner has "the next Nikita Kucherov" written all over him.... an elite passer, with great puck control, who's shot and scoring ability seems to be consistently improving. Take him away from Matthews, where it's very often "get the puck to Matthews", and I think he flourishes. Now, whether he can do that under the pressure of playing in Toronto -- a different question.

I like Marner a lot but he is no Kucherov. Kucherov is a warrior.

 

[ToneDog]

I'm a kucherov fan but he has never had a playoff close to dougie in either 93 or 94 . Leafs go to the finals in either of those years and Gilmour wins the smyth even in a loss imo .
93 as good as he was , 99 was even better but that was always the case.

Comparing marner and Kutch . Think offensively Kutch is or was the better player. He just has more tools in the tool box . Then the intangibles of his dirty and gritty side .
Defensively though marners in another stratosphere.

Killer was a beast in playoffs for the Leafs. Can't say I watched all the Lightning games in their 2 SC wins but I recall Kutch was also a beast. The numbers he put up in their 2n SC win were coming off major surgery and missing a full season. Pretty impressive.

 

[New User Name]

I'm a kucherov fan but he has never had a playoff close to dougie in either 93 or 94 . Leafs go to the finals in either of those years and Gilmour wins the smyth even in a loss imo .
93 as good as he was , 99 was even better but that was always the case.

Comparing marner and Kutch . Think offensively Kutch is or was the better player. He just has more tools in the tool box . Then the intangibles of his dirty and gritty side .
Defensively though marners in another stratosphere.

Dougie and Wendel, my fave Leafs. Played for the Maple Leaf on the front of the sweater. Give it all and then some. Someone tell me why CBC/Sportsnet, Leafs can't hire these guys. I'm sure they have a lot to give.

 

[ToneDog]

These playoffs were our final look at him before we either lose him for free or have to give him 12+ million on his next contract. Would've liked to see him with a different coach...because from what I've seen on the last 5 playoffs, he isn't worth more than 9 million long term. This stems back to Babs final playoff year too, where I believe Marner and Tavares were split up because they couldn't get anything going in the playoffs together (after a good season where they played nearly every minute together).

I think it's fair to cut him loose now, his value should be good, though I'm sure teams are starting to see the concerns with his playoff game. He's got 2 years left, so he's not a rental.

Nylander looked like our most dangerous forward vs Florida and he's the fastest skater on the team. Trade him, we get even more slower and less skilled.

Berger is throwing a rumor around that Carolina and Leafs are talking a Marner trade. It more than likely bull and for clicks... I don't see anything that we'd be interested in from Carolina. Howard just connecting the dots that the cash strapped Hurricanes might want Marner (whose real money is low)

Berger has lost all credibility but there is plenty from the Canes that would interest me. Necas, Jarvis, Aho, Svechnikov, Slavin. No idea what they have in their prospect pool. I believe they also have lot of cap space so it would not have to be money in, money out.

 

[Antropovsky]

Berger has lost all credibility but there is plenty from the Canes that would interest me. Necas, Jarvis, Aho, Svechnikov, Slavin. No idea what they have in their prospect pool. I believe they also have lot of cap space so it would not have to be money in, money out.

Svechnikov had season ending knee surgery, something to do with his ACL. Not sure serious knee injuries are nowadays.

 

[ToneDog]

Svechnikov had season ending knee surgery, something to do with his ACL. Not sure serious knee injuries are nowadays.

Good point, I'd take Necas, Jarvis and a 1st if Carolina is willing. I doubt they would include Svechnikov if they think he will be 100% and Slavin is probably untouchable.

 

[authentic]

I'm a kucherov fan but he has never had a playoff close to dougie in either 93 or 94 . Leafs go to the finals in either of those years and Gilmour wins the smyth even in a loss imo .
93 as good as he was , 99 was even better but that was always the case.

Comparing marner and Kutch . Think offensively Kutch is or was the better player. He just has more tools in the tool box . Then the intangibles of his dirty and gritty side .
Defensively though marners in another stratosphere.

Yeah I was about to say do people not realize how much Gilmour contributed defensively on top of the points? Kucherov was in no way better than GIlmour in his playoff runs, probably was actually the 4th best player on his team behind Point, Hedman and Vasilevskiy when they won their Cups.

 

[1specter]

 

[socko]

Watching Eichel, I remembered how good of a skater he is. He would easily be the Leafs best skater today. Dubas sure put together a slow team.