Mitch Marner's Stanley Cup pursuit with the Vegas Golden Knights is re-igniting a fierce debate over his exit from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Adam Proteau gives his thoughts.
As Vegas Golden Knights star right winger Mitch Marner celebrates his first trip to the Stanley Cup final, it's a good time for a reality check.
While Marner was well within his rights to leave the Toronto Maple Leafs after nine rollercoaster seasons, let's not rewrite the narrative and say the Maple Leafs and/or their fan base were somehow the problem that made him not perform in the biggest moments and ran him out of town.
Sorry, folks – and sorry, Toronto-haters in particular – but that simply isn't true.
From the moment the Maple Leafs drafted Marner fourth overall in 2015, nobody wanted him to have more success than the Leafs and their fan base. The organization did what it thought it needed to do to surround Marner and the core with the talent that would help them win a Cup for his hometown Leafs team.
And clearly, the Leafs failed in that regard, churning-and-burning through a constant stream of secondary talents that couldn't take the focus and pressure off of Marner when games mattered most.
That's the biggest change for Marner in Vegas. Vegas' depth allows Marner to thrive on the second line with Brett Howden and William Karlsson, and the Golden Knights' system makes him more effective in high-danger areas than he'd been in the years leading up to this post-season.
But two things can be true – he's one of the most effective players of these playoffs with the Golden Knights, and when the games mattered most with the Maple Leafs, he fell below expectations. He had a role in the Leafs not getting past the second round.
If Marner had put up a slew of points in Games 5, 6 and 7 in playoff games with the Maple Leafs, we'd be having a very different conversation about him.
Torontonians didn't demand Marner post hat tricks every game. They wanted someone to come through in the clutch.
In 26 career playoff games that were Games 5 through 7, Marner generated one goal, according to Sportsnet Stats. That's it.
Marner has been considerably better with the Golden Knights this spring, posting six points in four Games 5 and 6. But Marner is at his peak now that he's 29, and he clearly had room to grow his game in Vegas. There's nothing wrong with that, nor is there anything inherently wrong with Marner deciding to leave Toronto.
But there is something wrong with rewriting history and departing from reality regarding where it went wrong for Marner in Leafs Land.
When he told reporters earlier in the week that the Vegas players don't turn on each other or get mad at each other, it was hard not to recall him yelling at his teammates to "wake the f--- up" in Game 7 of the second round last year.
And when Toronto critics argue that the Maple Leafs, their fans and the market were the problem that prevented Marner from succeeding in the playoffs, remember that Marner once said he and his Maple Leafs teammates were "looked upon as kind of gods" in Toronto. He never complained about the city or the Leafs then, or when he was demanding $10.9 million per season.
Saying the Leafs failed to surround Marner with the depth he now has in Vegas is a fair comment, but he was paid like a difference-making player, and he failed to make a difference in elimination games. That's not up for debate.
And just as we wouldn't judge Marner's entire legacy for a few bad games, we're also not going to allow the city of Toronto to be judged by a few bad apples who crossed the line in piercing his personal space and off-ice life. The majority of Torontonians wanted nothing more for Marner than ultimate success as an individual and as a team player.
He had nine very good regular seasons in Toronto and zero very good post-seasons. That's where the frustration lies for Maple Leafs fans. And this nonsense painting the Leafs and the city of Toronto as the boogeymen can't be allowed to go unchecked.
Yes, things weren't perfect for Marner in Toronto. That's why the Maple Leafs eventually had to move him to Vegas in a sign-and-trade when it became clear Marner wanted a change of scenery.
But you can't blame Leafs fans for reacting negatively when the on-ice results were poor, when they had a chance to go deep in the playoffs. He was part of the problem, and he's done an excellent job of meeting his potential with the Golden Knights as they make the Stanley Cup final.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.