Mitch Marner's role with the Vegas Golden Knights is much different from the role he had with the Toronto Maple Leafs. His win over his former team on Thursday – and the boos from Leafs fans – showed exactly that.
Mitch Marner had a pair of assists in his first game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
But if the 6-5 overtime win against his old team showed Leafs fans anything, it was that his role with the Vegas Golden Knights is very different from the role he played in Toronto.
Marner might be Vegas' highest-paid player (for now, at least). And yet, he's far from their biggest or only superstar.
That much was apparent on a night when Jack Eichel scored the overtime-winner and had four points, when Pavel Dorofeyev had two goals, when Tomas Hertl was the second star with two points, and when Mark Stone picked up a goal and two assists to extend his point streak to 10 games.
In other words, Marner doesn't have to be the go-to guy in Vegas that he was in Toronto.
For Marner, who seemed uneasy under the spotlight — and criticism — of playing in Toronto, that's probably a welcome change. It means he can return to living somewhat anonymously in the desert. It also means that when things go wrong in Vegas, there's a long list of players feeling the heat before fingers point toward Marner.
That obviously wasn't the case in Toronto, where, after every loss and every playoff exit, Marner had to answer for his lack of production and his team's lack of success.
In a lot of ways, Marner's transition has a lot in common with Phil Kessel's transition from top-line option in Toronto to playing a third-line role in Pittsburgh. As you remember, that backseat role, which had Kessel playing behind Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the famed HBK Line, led to back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Penguins. It also contributed to Kessel shedding his prickly persona and coming out of his shell to become one of the league's most beloved players.
Who knows, maybe Marner can enjoy something similar.
Marner assisted on both of Dorofeyev's power-play goals on Thursday. (Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images)Thursday night's game in Vegas, where Marner was strangely booed on home ice by the visiting Toronto fans, might have been the first time that he's been criticized all year. It must have been a reminder of why he left the Leafs in the first place.
Despite ranking second on the team in points, there are five Vegas players with more goals than Marner. Can you imagine the reaction if he were scoring at that level in Toronto? Can you imagine what Leafs fans would be saying after Marner signed an eight-year deal with a $12-million cap hit, only to rank outside the top 20 in scoring?
Marner knows what the reaction would be. And that's probably why he chose to sign in Vegas, where the team's offensive depth has at times acted as a shield.
After 46 games, Marner ranks sixth on the team in goals. During his tenure in Toronto, Marner only finished outside the top five once, when he was a rookie. In two of his nine years with the Leafs, he ranked second in goals and finished in third once.
There was pressure for him to produce, for him to score, for him to be the best player on the ice — and to answer the questions when things didn't go right.
If Marner didn't pick up a point while playing in Toronto, chances were that the Leafs weren't picking up the win. But if Marner doesn't score or even land on the scoresheet in Vegas, it doesn't automatically result in a loss. In a game against the Sharks last week, Marner had zero points and was a minus-1, and the Golden Knights still managed to win 7-2.
Marner's role, so far, has been as a power-play specialist. That's where he picked up both of his assists against the Leafs on Thursday, assisting on both of Dorofeyev's goals. Marner is currently tied for 25th overall with Buffalo's Alex Tuch and Washington's Tom Wilson with 33 even-strength points (two fewer than Toronto's Matthew Knies).
By his standard, he's having a good — not great season. But on a team with so many great players, that's good enough for now.
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