Will Mitch Marner become star?

[hullsy47]

Clearly someone has an inability to look up even basic stats.

He was shooting around 10-11% all of last year and finished with 19 goals in 77 games. If you're gonna troll at least do it right.

They hit marner now at lesst once every game i saw him live last nite he gets way more rope than brown or nylander marner looks gassed
Peetty obvious mathews and anderson and u build it
Sat by lou lam and mark hunter fri nite at the new pizza arena lou on the phone all nite
Also kapanen has to be here give him some of marners time

 

[Stephen]

When Marner is off his game, he looks like he's literally scared to be out there. Avoid any areas of congestion like the plague, delivering pizzas for everyone, no-look feature plays to nobody, get knocked over by the breeze when an opponent is skating by. Where's the fire with this guy?

 

[bunjay]

This year Marner is a perimeter player, a turnover machine, and awful when the other team has the puck in our zone. For all the shit JVR and especially Bozak are taking, why does Marner escape the same criticism on this forum? If you focus on him during shifts where that line gets stuck chasing the puck in their own zone you'll find that Marner is basically making his line play short-handed with how utterly useless he is within 6 feet of the boards.

 

[Myopic]

Teams are bottling up the neutral zone against the Leafs the last month or so. To counter this Babs has them dumping and chasing. Of all the Leafs players Marner is the worst at it because of his lack of size. I think he scored 20 goals last season because teams didn't know his game but now they do. I'd bet my last dollar that 20 goals will be a career best for Marner unfortunately. He just doesn't have a good shot and is rarely in a position to get the dirty goals because he is the setup guy on his line. I know I will get slammed for this blasphemy in here but that's the way I feel about the kid. I don't think he is a core piece going forward. No way you pay him 7 or 8 million a year for what he brings to the table as a soft playmaker. He's definitely a fantastic passer when given the space. The comparisons to Patrick Kane NOW seem to be outrageous don't ya think? Kane has a great wrist shot, is faster and digs like crazy along the walls. He comes up with the puck 90% of the time wherever he is.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Marner needs to run around scared.
He’s so tiny he could get killed out there.
Smart move by him.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

When Marner is off his game, he looks like he's literally scared to be out there. Avoid any areas of congestion like the plague, delivering pizzas for everyone,

You know the American puck tracker ? That glow that highlights the puck ?

I’d like a Marner tracker to keep my eyes on what he does. Would be fun.

I do it manually sometimes. He really struggles some games.

 

[ULF_55]

Not yet.

But there are very few players who are stars in year 2 of their careers.

Not yet, but few players are stars in year 2 of their careers.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that Bozak's struggles this year compared to last year has Marner looking nothing like the first 4 months of his career.

At this point, perhaps we can suggest he's a sophomore who everyone knows how to defend against.

I think the return of a healthy Matthews will open up the ice for everyone including Marner.

Oh, and yes the Kane comparison might fall apart on ability to shoot the puck.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

@zeke how are marner’s stats looking ?

 

[Myopic]

Marner is also the worst on the team in his own zone. I've been watching him closely and he is terrible at getting the puck out. I'm sure he will get better at it as he gets older and adds more weight. Nylander is much better than Marner in the d-zone and Willy also needs to get better. Young players, especially skilled players, don't like the dirty work. Fortunately for Willy he has a solid body and isn't scared to get hit. Nylander is definitely a core piece but he has a ways to go defensively including effort.

 

[stickty111]

When Marner is off his game, he looks like he's literally scared to be out there. Avoid any areas of congestion like the plague, delivering pizzas for everyone, no-look feature plays to nobody, get knocked over by the breeze when an opponent is skating by. Where's the fire with this guy?

And here goes Stephen again.

 

[stickty111]

Add Marner to the list of players who have gotten worse work ethic wise and defensively playing with Bozak.

 

[ULF_55]

Add Marner to the list of players who have gotten worse work ethic wise and defensively playing with Bozak.

So the Leafs drafting is still a problem with players who don't have drive?

We shouldn't blame players for other player's issues.

 

[ShaneFalco]

He's having some struggles. I have no doubt he'll be one hell of a player before long

 

[hullsy47]

Add Marner to the list of players who have gotten worse work ethic wise and defensively playing with Bozak.

babcock wanted hanifin ,but I think marners teammates are pushing him now ,but hes no doug Gilmour ,and 20 goals maybe be hard for him to reach again ,good scouting says pound him ,and lately he gets hit good twice a game ,last 56 games or something he has like 6 goals ,this isn't a shock ,its life in the nhl

 

[bunjay]

Add Marner to the list of players who have gotten worse work ethic wise and defensively playing with Bozak.

That's 100% bull.

How about instead we add Marner to the list of defensively inept wingers Bozak has been glued to?

This whole idea of Bozak being lazy got started because he played with Phil "I'm already at centre-ice" Kessel. I never bought it. Bozak isn't lazy, he's just not the top centre we asked him to be for years. He's still a hell of a player for somebody that came into the league un-drafted at 23.

The majority of this forum was wrong about his offense drying up without Kessel and they're just as wrong about his work ethic.

 

[nobody]

That's 100% bull.

How about instead we add Marner to the list of defensively inept wingers Bozak has been glued to?

This whole idea of Bozak being lazy got started because he played with Phil "I'm already at centre-ice" Kessel. I never bought it. Bozak isn't lazy, he's just not the top centre we asked him to be for years. He's still a hell of a player for somebody that came into the league un-drafted at 23.

The majority of this forum was wrong about his offense drying up without Kessel and they're just as wrong about his work ethic.

I don't think anyone can legitimately claim anything about his work ethic but his defensive woes are real. Lucky for him he has great company in JVR who is also a defensive blackhole. Yesterday alone, two soft defensive plays by JVR directly ended up in the back of our net and Bozak took a stupid penalty to ice the game.

What Mitch Marner needs is a line that works hard and plays the right way. Bozak/ JVR line tends to become way too passive at times and they disappear offensively. The only time I notice that line is when they're hemmed into our zone and about to give up a goal. About the same time I notice Polak too.

Marner has played his best hockey this season playing with Martin on the 4th line. If Babs was smart, he would put Willie back up top with Matty and let Marner take reign of that 4th line. Or put Marner with Matty when he's healthy. Another thing that pisses me off, Leivo/ Kapanen have both played very well almost every opportunity they've been given, I don't know why Babs is so obsessed with having certain vets in the lineup.

This is the lineup I want to see.

Hyman - Matthews - Marner
JVR - Kadri - Marleau
Brown - Bozak - Komarov
Martin - Nylander - Kapanen/ Leivo

Also no Polak on D anymore. Babs needs to grow a pair of balls and let Carrick have his shot. As much as we're about winning, we're still in the development phase of the rebuild, you can't stick plugs like Polak and Moore into the lineup who give you nothing of value while taking up a roster spot that could otherwise be had by a younger kid.

 

[bunjay]

I don't think anyone can legitimately claim anything about his work ethic but his defensive woes are real. Lucky for him he has great company in JVR who is also a defensive blackhole. Yesterday alone, two soft defensive plays by JVR directly ended up in the back of our net and Bozak took a stupid penalty to ice the game.

What Mitch Marner needs is a line that works hard and plays the right way. Bozak/ JVR line tends to become way too passive at times and they disappear offensively. The only time I notice that line is when they're hemmed into our zone and about to give up a goal. About the same time I notice Polak too.

Marner has played his best hockey this season playing with Martin on the 4th line. If Babs was smart, he would put Willie back up top with Matty and let Marner take reign of that 4th line. Or put Marner with Matty when he's healthy. Another thing that pisses me off, Leivo/ Kapanen have both played very well almost every opportunity they've been given, I don't know why Babs is so obsessed with having certain vets in the lineup.

This is the lineup I want to see.

Hyman - Matthews - Marner
JVR - Kadri - Marleau
Brown - Bozak - Komarov
Martin - Nylander - Kapanen/ Leivo

Also no Polak on D anymore. Babs needs to grow a pair of balls and let Carrick have his shot. As much as we're about winning, we're still in the development phase of the rebuild, you can't stick plugs like Polak and Moore into the lineup who give you nothing of value while taking up a roster spot that could otherwise be had by a younger kid.

I don't disagree with any of that, although I'm not convinced Bozak is as bad defensively as most people think. Certainly not much worse than your average non-shutdown centre. He's no defensive wizard and that gets amplified by playing with mostly wingers who are much the same.

But the "lazy Bozak" narrative has gotten so out of control that people now think he makes his line-mates lazy by association. That's beyond absurd.

 

[Menzinger]

I don't disagree with any of that, although I'm not convinced Bozak is as bad defensively as most people think. Certainly not much worse than your average non-shutdown centre. He's no defensive wizard and that gets amplified by playing with mostly wingers who are much the same.

But the "lazy Bozak" narrative has gotten so out of control that people now think he makes his line-mates lazy by association. That's beyond absurd.

His line as pretty much always been the worst defensive scoring line on the team. Folks used to blame Kessel, then JVR but there’s only been one constant factor....

 

[Mugzy97]

I'd bet my last dollar that 20 goals will be a career best for Marner unfortunately.

I would EASILY take that bet. This kid will be the real deal, just needs a little longer than most players, ala Johnny Gaudreau.

Too bad some fans have a “what have you done for me lately” mentality and no patience so they bash the kid.

 

[Glenn Isildur Healy]

There are only 2 narratives that exist apparently

1) Marner having a career year: He's absolutely carrying Bozak and JVR on his back
2) Marner having a down year: Bozak is dragging Marner down

I would love to be Marner because all excuses are already written for me

 

[diceman934]

I would EASILY take that bet. This kid will be the real deal, just needs a little longer than most players, ala Johnny Gaudreau.

Too bad some fans have a “what have you done for me lately” mentality and no patience so they bash the kid.

Exactly ...i also will take that bet.

I am not sure that he does not get very close this year to 20 playing on a better line as I see him getting moved to Mathews line as soon as Mathews returns as the Leafs need to generate offence.

I hope his bashers have a large mouth as they will need it to get their foot into it.

 

[diceman934]

There are only 2 narratives that exist apparently

1) Marner having a career year: He's absolutely carrying Bozak and JVR on his back
2) Marner having a down year: Bozak is dragging Marner down

I would love to be Marner because all excuses are already written for me

So tell me just how are JVR and Bozak doing 5 on 5 this year vs last year?

The answer will explain the truth.

 

[ULF_55]

So tell me just how are JVR and Bozak doing 5 on 5 this year vs last year?

The answer will explain the truth.

Do you think Marner is playing well defensive or offensively?

I don't think he's playing well anywhere right now.

 

[DarkKnight]

This year Marner is a perimeter player, a turnover machine, and awful when the other team has the puck in our zone. For all the **** JVR and especially Bozak are taking, why does Marner escape the same criticism on this forum? If you focus on him during shifts where that line gets stuck chasing the puck in their own zone you'll find that Marner is basically making his line play short-handed with how utterly useless he is within 6 feet of the boards.

What forum are you reading exactly, the one I read has a posse of Marner detractors who jump on every play? Also, when Marner has been in the league as long a Bozie perhaps it's a fair comparison.

 

[Pyromaniac]

Bozak literally does nothing for this team anymore. He is not good defensively, and he produces nothing offensively. His main asset being his faceoff ability has been neutered due to the the new rules. Hence he is always getting tossed out because he cannot adapt. Last year they could feed him OZ starts, this year he loses the draw and the puck is headed the other way. Marner has had his own struggles so I am not going to conflate their issues and blame one for the other but they both haven't been very good. The difference between the two is that Marner is a 20 year old who still has time to improve and work on his issues. Bozak is a UFA whose best years are behind him and will almost certainly not be re-signed.