Absolutely incorrect. Marner is a great player but he’s not a generational talent. That’s McDavid. He did better than anybody else in Toronto, more career playoff points than Matthews, Nylander and Tavares. The media and the franchise ran him out of town but the team failed on the ice because it was constructed poorly. He did not have to leave to have this success. The team and the market simply needed to be constructed properly.
A lot of people, and many pundits, remember the overtime, Game 7 against Boston when he let his check go, that being David Pasternak, and scoring the series clinching goal and watching Boston advance instead of the Leafs. Fast forward a couple of years and his response when he was getting slashed in a close game against Florida, last year. He did nothing, he didn’t slash back or show any push back. It was like he was backing off, instead of standing up for himself. If he’d stood up and slashed back or did a face wash, he would have garnered more respect. Granted, where was his team-mates to come in and push back? It’s what we’ve seen from this team, including him, for more than 2 decades. Blue and White disease. Loving the accolades but not handling the pressure of the most rabid hockey fanbase on the planet. It’s why there’s such disenchantment for the players making max money. The fanbase is sick of the mercenary tactics of the highest paid players on the team.