Mitch Marner & Maple Leafs Are Living In the Moment

Mitch Marner is having a career season, and his second All-Star selection is just the icing on the cake.

“They’re always an honor to be chosen for,” Marner told me in Fort Lauderdale. “As a kid, you dream about being in these games. Especially [growing up] in Toronto, I wanted to be a part of it, and to have a second moment here is always something you enjoy.”

Marner was selected fourth overall by his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2015 draft and made his NHL debut on Oct. 12, 2016. Just three months later, he won Rookie of the Month for January 2017, and before the 2019–20 season, Marner was named an alternate captain.

At just 25 years old, Marner’s career has already been a whirlwind — pausing to appreciate his achievements at the All-Star Game is undeniably well-deserved.

“With how these new All-Star Games work with limited numbers, you don’t know how many more you’ve got in you, but you always want to try and be a part of it,” he said.

If Marner’s game stays anywhere near as good as it has been up until now, I don’t think he’ll have any problem finding more accolades to be proud of.

✨ MORE MITCH MAGIC ✨

Mitch Marner (@Marner93) scores an absolutely electric @Energizer OT winner to nab the @MapleLeafs the extra point! pic.twitter.com/IRRn2uTFyU

— NHL (@NHL) January 26, 2023

Mitch Marner Stats

Through 52 games in the 2022-23 season, Marner has recorded 19 goals, 41 assists, 60 points, and 127 shots. In 2021-22, he posted 35 goals, 62 assists, 97 points, and 224 shots in 72 games, and the seasons prior were just as impressive.

The stats don’t end there, either. 

In December, Marner rode a 23-game point streak, surpassing Darryl Sitter and Eddie Olczyk (18 games) to set a Maple Leafs record. The streak was the longest in the NHL since 2015 (Patrick Kane, 26 games) and made Marner only the 12th player in league history to record a points streak of at least 23 games.

On Jan. 8, Marner recorded his 350th career assist to surpass Tim Horton (349) for the seventh-most in Maple Leafs history, and he set another record on Jan. 19, scoring at least one point in 20 consecutive home games to beat Sittler’s 18-game run in 1977-78.

It feels like Marner is setting a new standard for point scoring every time he hits the ice, and it’s certainly helping to put the Maple Leafs in an excellent position for the second half of the season.

Toronto Maple Leafs Record

As of the All-Star Break, the Maple Leafs are third in the league and second in the Atlantic division with a record of 31-13-8. They have the third-shortest Eastern Conference champion odds (+550), the fourth-shortest Stanley Cup odds (+1000), and are third in BetMGM’s NHL Power Rankings.

A 2023 playoff berth is almost certain for Toronto, but how far they’ll go from there is a touchy subject among fans.

In six seasons with the Maple Leafs, Marner has helped the team reach the playoffs in all six years — but unfortunately, a Stanley Cup title hasn’t been in the cards. In five of the last six years, Toronto has been eliminated in the first round, and in 2019-20, the Leafs didn’t even get through the qualifying round.

No matter how good their regular-season record, the Maple Leafs seem to fall apart in the playoffs — and Marner hasn’t been immune from criticism.

MITCHELLY MARNER!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/tmxUuSHjgq

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) December 11, 2022

In the 2019-20 playoffs, Marner only recorded four assists in five games. He only managed four assists in the 2020-21 playoffs as well, but this time in seven games. It didn’t take long for a reputation to spread among fans, with social media becoming an open forum for discussing Marner’s supposed inability to thrive during the playoffs.

When the Maple Leafs got to the 2021-22 playoffs, Marner went in with something to prove, and he quickly broke the drought. Recording two goals and six assists in seven games, Marner proved he’s still the star fans thought he was, even if the team was eliminated before the second round.

So will this season’s playoff berth be different for the Maple Leafs? Is 2023 the year Toronto finally takes home the Stanley Cup?

“I don’t want to look too far ahead,” Marner said. “We know we’ve got some work to do, we know we’ve got a lot better things ahead. If we can just continue to keep getting better and better, that’s the goal.”

Fingers crossed.