Player Discussion Mitch Marner

[IPS]

Feeling a big Marner game tonight.

Think he checks himself into the series, especially with Willy likely not going again.

I think a good multi point game is well in order. The media hasn't been quiet about him and he's aware, at bare minimum you'll see him much more engaged out there.

 

[Gary Nylund]

The sad thing about all of this is that we just want him to prove us wrong. I would be more than happy to eat crow on him after a huge playoff performance, but it just hasn't really happened, especially when we needed him most. Tonight is another opportunity though, hope for the best I guess.

+1

We're all pulling for him, that should go without saying. I mean we're all fans of the team and the better he plays, the better our chances are, it's not complicated. Not sure what these guys are thinking who keep calling people haters who dare to offer any objective criticism but whatever, can't expect everyone to behave rationally I guess.

Hoping we win 5-1 tonight led by 4 points from Marner, I'd wake up tomorrow morning with the biggest smile ever. And then game 4 Nylander can come back and lead the way, one can dream.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I'd rather trade him than give him an extension but I don't see the point of writing him off 2 games into the playoffs. People were ready to give up on this core entirely after Game 1 and thought we would be swept and now the attention is just on Marner.

He'll come through. He's near a PPG despite not being great in the playoffs so far.

People need to remember that the Atlantic has been the hardest division in the league since we drafted Matthews and Marner.

Most other elite teams get a free bye for the first week because their division is terrible. Those easy teams help build the confidence of the team before you face the elite teams later on.

We don't get that luxury. It's do or die right away.

He gets a pass from me. IMO final grades are issued when the playoffs are over and hopefully we're a long way from that. A slow start doesn't mean this can't end with him winning the Conn Smythe Trohpy. I mean OK obviously that's not likely, but it's at least within the realm of possibility and I'm just making a point here.

 

[ErnieLeafs]

He’s being asked to do a lot more than the other high end forwards are, and it’s slowing his production. We need him to produce, sure, but we also need him to kill penalties and play a 200ft game that keeps the other team off the board. He’s had his hiccups, but he hasn’t been “bad” through two games.

Kypreos was right, in that he’s carrying a line with guys who are one trick ponies, offensively. Tavares and Knies arent’t going to create much of anything for Mitch. He kind of has to do everything. That’s a big ask when also asking him to be the parent defensively for that forward group.

I think he’ll start to come into his own tonight. He just needs something to break his way, and it should get him rolling

 

[DarkKnight]

Pressure building on Toronto Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner after quiet start to series | TSN

Article in The Sun now as well. Nice to see the local papers rally behind the team. Do we like Simmons now?

SIMMONS: Mitch Marner stars as The Invisible Man in Leafs series vs. Bruins

The list of right wingers who have outscored Mitch Marner in his career is a short one: Nikita Kucherov and David Pastrnak.

torontosun.com

They were carving the Sun this morning on 1050 for that garbage. It's 1-1 and you're spewing negativity, what a world to inhabit. Rag.

 

[81Leafs50]

there is a chance Willy plays tonight. I have tickets for the game tonight. I hope Marner wakes up, but its not likely. Marner has been a Maple Leaf for 8 years now and this might be who he is. All regular season. No playoffs.

 

[SprDaVE]

He’s being asked to do a lot more than the other high end forwards are, and it’s slowing his production. We need him to produce, sure, but we also need him to kill penalties and play a 200ft game that keeps the other team off the board. He’s had his hiccups, but he hasn’t been “bad” through two games.

Kypreos was right, in that he’s carrying a line with guys who are one trick ponies, offensively. Tavares and Knies arent’t going to create much of anything for Mitch. He kind of has to do everything. That’s a big ask when also asking him to be the parent defensively for that forward group.

I think he’ll start to come into his own tonight. He just needs something to break his way, and it should get him rolling

I dunno but even on the PP he's been fighting it a lot more than he usually does. That's where he needs to be money and dominate, not just 5 on 5 or on the PK. It's not all on him but we need him to be Kucherov level good on the PP.

 

[Aashir]

This could be a be a statement game from Marner. Shut everyone up and help the team grab a win

Also, keefe please try nylander and Marner

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

I'd like him to just shoot the puck.

 

[ER89]

Yes, for 11m we expect a massive contribution, no question about that. And so far we haven't gotten it, no doubt about that either. We're only 2 games in and we're not down 2-0 so luckily he still has time to get it together. Tonight would be a good time to get started, we'll see.

It's sweet of you to give your hero the benefit of the doubt but the truth is, none of us can know what the problem is. He's played terrible at times in the past when perfectly healthy so it could be shambles of the brain, just like it was game 3 against Florida last season.

Keefe's former video coach breaks down Leafs faceoff goal against

TOR vs. BOS Game 2

jhanhky.substack.com

So i was definitely wrong. Marner played that perfectly. It was knies who f***ed it up along with McCabe getting a read too slow. Great analysis.

I was definitely wrong here Gary.

 

[thusk]

The most comical part of this is you don't realize you keep inadvertently proving just how useless those stats are

I guess Leafs nation just watches hockey wrong, because we all saw Pastrnak drastically outplay Marner through 2 games.

outside of pp and his goal, sorry i didn't really pastrnak trought 2 game... If you saw something different for sure we didn't watch the same game.

Marner can he do more? yeah for sure he can.

Did exemple sidney Crosby had pretty bad series? yeah in 2015-2016, he was not good at all vs Washington in 2nd where he finished the series of 6 gane with obly 2 assist and -3... but most of the time he was great and finally won the conne smythe.

Marchessault after 1st round last year only got 2 assist... He's finally won the Conne Smythe.

In toronto its like every stars need to be high all the time or we start to see stupid things like whats Simmonds did.

Maybe the rest of the series, its marner who will carry the leafs or maybe of matthews is struggling in 2nd round, maybe Marner will take the lead and carry the team.

last 3 year leafs won 1 game when 1st line didn't scored and maybe its marner would will change that narative.

 

[Tak7]

I think a good multi point game is well in order. The media hasn't been quiet about him and he's aware, at bare minimum you'll see him much more engaged out there.

One of the reasons why so many took to Marner early, was not only because he's a great player, but because of how much fun he looked like he was having out there.

He looks joyless right now, and has looked that way for quite some time. I really want this guy to succeed here, and I really want to start seeing a smile on his face.

 

[IPS]

outside of pp and his goal, sorry i didn't really pastrnak trought 2 game... If you saw something different for sure we didn't watch the same game.

Marner can he do more? yeah for sure he can.

Did exemple sidney Crosby had pretty bad series? yeah in 2015-2016, he was not good at all vs Washington in 2nd where he finished the series of 6 gane with obly 2 assist and -3... but most of the time he was great and finally won the conne smythe.

I'll admit "drastically" was hyperbole but the point stands. Pastrnak being better wasn't any praise either, Marner was just too invisible offensively.

 

[Gabriel426]

I doubt he comes back with 7 games left in the season if he’s not healthy. The lengths people go to absolve him of blame is ridiculous. The comments from Keefe are embarrassing, if they didn’t mention the name I would have thought they were taking about a 4th liner making minimum salary.

He needs to be better

1. Players play when they are not 100% all the time.
2. Like I said, we seen MM struggles in the past as he had bad games before. But how he played in Game 1 and 2 didn’t look like he is struggling rather more like he is playing hurt.

100% agree that he needs to be better, a lot better.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Keefe's former video coach breaks down Leafs faceoff goal against

TOR vs. BOS Game 2

jhanhky.substack.com

So i was definitely wrong. Marner played that perfectly. It was knies who f***ed it up along with McCabe getting a read too slow. Great analysis.

I was definitely wrong here Gary.

Wow, that was really interesting, thanks for sharing! I've never seen such a detailed breakdown, I feel like I learned a lot about what these video guys do and it's more involved than I imagined. I love how his final verdict was not only to clear Marner of any blame, but to say that this play was an example of his high hockey IQ which enabled him to react so quickly and as it happened, he came within inches of preventing the goal and thus bailing out his teammates.

He's such a smart player most of the time. I really hope Marner's 100% healthy and can clear out the cobwebs in his head and be the best version of himself tonight. GLG!!

 

[thusk]

I'll admit "drastically" was hyperbole but the point stands. Pastrnak being better wasn't any praise either, Marner was just too invisible offensively.

gm 2 it was a pretty bad game and we didn't see him at all for but perdonally i cant say the same thing about game 1 but that just didn't connect. Just in pp on game 1, for me Marner was the only player who created something but jt missed some great scoring chance.

 

[Tak7]

They were carving the Sun this morning on 1050 for that garbage. It's 1-1 and you're spewing negativity, what a world to inhabit. Rag.

As they should.

It's a ridiculous headline coming off a good win, but it works - it's the first Sun article I've read in years and years, purely because the headline drew me in. The actual article itself wasn't actually all that bad; Simmons did a pretty good job providing a balanced, and accurate, description of where Marner's game is right now and what the narrative is around his play.

 

[torontoblood]

Sensationalist Cheap shot move by the Toronto sun

 

[Gary Nylund]

Keefe isn't the guy on the ice.

The players have to be smart enough to notice when an opponent is making himself open and available I the danger areas of the ice, and react accordingly.

Of the players on the team, Mitch is the 2nd last I expect to have to bring that up to, as he is a very strong defender and normally well positioned, he trails only Matthews in these regards.

The pass was phenomenal, the chase up the ice was dumb, but not fatal. Marner didn't rotate down quickly enough and Pastrnak is not some run of the mill player.

What Marner hasn't done yet since returning from injury, is assert himself with the puck.

He hasn't been his usual silky self yet.
The timing is quite obviously still not there.

Hopefully it comes back tomorrow because Toronto can't just rely on 1 guy to be the offense and the defensive help...

Sorry for not answering earlier, I tried but I couldn't figure out how to express my thoughts with a small number of words without rambling. But see the post below, this guys an expert on the subject and he explains it perfectly. You don't need to watch the entire video, just push forward to the breakdown of that goal.

Keefe's former video coach breaks down Leafs faceoff goal against

TOR vs. BOS Game 2

jhanhky.substack.com

 

[mclaren55]

I hate our media.

 

[Tak7]

there is a chance Willy plays tonight. I have tickets for the game tonight. I hope Marner wakes up, but its not likely. Marner has been a Maple Leaf for 8 years now and this might be who he is. All regular season. No playoffs.

I know his overall postseason points totals are pretty skewed, but 11 points in 6 games against Tampa in round 1 shows that he can still produce at this time of year.

 

[studebaker17]

Think we get our answer tonight - really fascinated to see how Keefe handles line matching tonight; didn't personally think JT/Marner did a great job with that line. Wonder if he unleashes Matthews against them on home ice.

Feel like both coach's like the matchups . Neither seemed to be trying to get away from them. Most teams other than Tampa always played their best line against the Tavares line and a checking line against Mathews / Marner . Top d pair against them to.

 

[Kiwi]

The other 3 lines are going great, no way you break that up yet. This is a Mitch problem, Sheldon doesn't need to get him going, Mitch need to get Mitch going.

Mitch wants star money, he better find a way to give star performances.

I'd scratch Knies and replace him with Willy. going whole line need minutes reduction. Play the other 3 lines more until this line starts producing.

He's a difference maker, getting him going is in everyone's best interests

 

[Tak7]

Feel like both coach's like the matchups . Neither seemed to be trying to get away from them. Most teams other than Tampa always played their best line against the Tavares line and a checking line against Mathews / Marner . Top d pair against them to.

I would hope that Keefe chases things more aggressively tonight, especially with 2 days off until game 4 - empty the tank, change on the fly, and try and expose that blueline.

I would think the Leafs are basically nailed on to take a too many men penalty tonight too

 

[ErnieLeafs]

I dunno but even on the PP he's been fighting it a lot more than he usually does. That's where he needs to be money and dominate, not just 5 on 5 or on the PK. It's not all on him but we need him to be Kucherov level good on the PP.

Well, the guy is human. He’s not immune to pressure and doubt. He knows what everyone in The media and the fanbase is saying. That probably plays a role, to an extent. We need him to breathe, and let the game come to him. You see that a lot in football, when a QB is pressing, and he’s trying to do too much. They call it squeezing the stick too tight in hockey, but same idea. He needs to slow down the process, and do what he does well