A pair of former Toronto Maple Leafs have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Winger Alexander Mogilny and center Joe Thornton are part of a class of eight players named on Tuesday. HNIC commentator Jennifer Botterill, defensemen Zdeno Chara and Duncan Keith, Olympic gold medalist Brianna Decker, Boston University head coach Jack Parker, and Olympic gold medal-winning coach Daniele Sauvageau were also named.
Mogilny scored 1032 points (473 goals, 559 assists) with Buffalo, Vancouver, New Jersey, and Toronto and won a Stanley Cup with the Devils in 2000. With the Leafs, he had 166 points (65 goals, 101 assists) in 176 games, and eight goals in the 2002 playoffs when Toronto last made the Eastern Conference Final.
Thornton, after a lengthy career with Boston and San Jose, and a brief stint in Switzerland, signed a one-year deal with the Leafs and had 20 points (5 goals, 15 assists) in 44 games.
Marner Not Going Where He Will Have To Lead
In less than two weeks, the Toronto Maple Leafs will not have Mitch Marner to kick around anymore, as the pending unrestricted free agent is almost certainly headed to parts unknown. The indications from all the NHL insiders are that the 28-year-old is likely to sign a shorter-term deal than a seven-year contract or an eight-year max deal that would require the Leafs to do a sign-and-trade.
The reasons for this are multi-layered. One reason for Marner’s camp being open to a three-or four-year deal is the NHL salary cap going up like a bat out of hell the next few years and likely more with a new collective bargaining agreement about to be announced in the next few weeks. That allows agent Darren Ferris to double dip and get his client an $11 or $12 million payday in July and another windfall at age 31 or 32, with the only risk being the potential for injury.
Another reason is that getting paid and getting a max deal would require Marner to go to a rebuilding club like San Jose, Chicago, Utah or Anaheim, where the expectations would be high for him to be a leader and put them into the playoffs. A shorter-term deal for slightly less than initially expected may be tied to the main reason: signing with a contending team, whether it be the much-rumored Vegas Golden Knights, the Carolina Hurricanes, or the Los Angeles Kings.
Marner is looking for the best possible landing spot where he has the best chance to remove the aura of postseason failure, but the problem with that is that in all of those spots, the pressure will still be on him to perform when it counts.
The Golden Knights have won a Cup, but age and injury issues may have their window closing. The Hurricanes are a higher-functioning Leafs who can’t get past the Conference Final, and the Kings are just like Toronto, not being able to get out of the first round. Wherever Marner goes, he will have the hockey world training their eyes on him to see if he can show up. He did for Canada at the Four Nations, but he was playing with Connor McDavid. He will have to do a lot to shake off the taint of being a choke artist from his tenure in Toronto.
