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Yeah, I fully get the intense media in Toronto when it comes to the Leafs. If youāre mentally weak at all, itāll become an issue for you. My only counterpoint is, if the team was better constructed with depth and talent, as in not so top heavy, I donāt think the attention would be there, all on one player. Marner had 383 points in 302 games over the past four seasons, he also had 38 points in 38 playoff games, so he was earning his money. But heās more of a complimentary player, heās not gonna drive the bus in the playoffs, heās gonna matter, but heās not that type of guy to drive the bus all by himself, at least in my opinion, thatās on Leafs management for those expectations.For years Iāve heard Shanny didnāt build a deep enough team for the playoffs, theyāre a fun dynamic offensive team in the regular season, but they were never going to find success in the playoffs with their top heavy roster and their style of play. And that pretty much played out over the past seven years, where they got past the 1st round once. On top of that, I donāt think theyāre better this year than they were last year, which is a problem, for yāall.
Sadly when it came to Marner his talent was never the question, it was the fits he had from time to time, had them in junior as well, but London is in SW Ontario tooā¦ same BS for teens but thankfully not as intense.
And yeah, The Leafs were built without any space to adapt the cap lockdown due to Covid, JTās contract always seemed high because of that. Long term contracts of stars always seem high the first couple of years, then decent the next 3, then reasonable for the last couple. The lockdown left him high for the first 4 and then decent for the last 3, which always felt high. They needed to give up Mitch or Matthews sadly to balance things back out and the current GM and coach prefer Matthews. Anyone who thinks Nylander or Marner is loonie, Marner would have cost close to $4 mill more in Ontario than Willie so no, it wasnāt him.
Marner will be a good/important player on a team where all the focus isnāt on a group of four players to sink or die with. Vegas epitomizes a deep, balanced, big, heavy, experienced, team where everyone is a contributor and their systems play is more important than being carried by a small group of players. Just my outside opinion looking in.
Listen I will happily give Marner the credit he deserves. Heās a fantastic passer, heās great defensively, and he reads the ice really really well. I live in London so I remember him in the OHL playing for The Knights. His speed and shot are decent but not great but nothing to frown against either. The only thing I never really liked about him is that he emotionally broke down routinely. So for him I think not playing hockey in southern Ontario is the best move since itās non stop attention from the media and fanbase here. Look at the broadcast this past Saturday night, the next game had started yet they still were focused on the leafs drama during the intermissions, itās absurd. Some players have no interest to play for a Canadian team, especially Toronto, for this kind of reason.
I mean look at this. If Marner was bumped down to the second line in Toronto the media and fanbase would explode even if it was a perfect fit (his production has shot up since it has happened) whereas in Vegas they speak positively about it. Some players just donāt have the mental ability to handle the crazy Toronto atmosphere and wouldnāt be shocked if Marner is one of them.
Be careful saying this for instanceā¦ congrats to JT for becoming just the 4th player in history to get to 500P for 2 different teams however itās a pretty safe bet Marner is going to make that list now too. (Waits for arguments against that point of view lol)
Why are we still talking about the player that didnāt want to be in Toronto, and couldnāt handle the pressure of it?
BTW, Willy has more points in less games, but that doesnāt fit your narrative.
On another site I started chatting on a bit I saw a knights fan mention how he likes Marner because heās a lot like Marchessault, the position that Marner has essentially taken over which has been a gap since Marchessault left for Nashville. I didnāt say anything because why would I but I looked some stuff up, yup, Marner is 0.3PPG more (averaging about an extra 25P) but he also costs $6.5 million more a year lol.
I get it now though, Marchessault is essentially JTās age but it still made me smile. Vegas fans are already associating Marner to a 2nd line winger that cost half his price, they donāt do it out of anger, but they donāt think much of his game other than his offensive skill set.
JT getting the hatty tonight, you heard it here first.
That would be a sweet 501 alright š
