I can't claim that it's surprising to see Mitch Marner playing excellent hockey for a Stanley Cup contender, but it does still feel like a novelty. When Marner entered the attacking zone with the Golden Knights up 1-0, cut waaay to his right, and then salvaged the play with a one-timer set-up back to Pavel Dorofeyev, all I could think about was how much it must hurt to be watching from Toronto.
Marner is no stranger to the playoffs, appearing for the Leafs in nine straight until he signed a fat new contract with Vegas last offseason. This year, however, feels totally different, because he isn't playing for a franchise that consistently blows it in the early rounds. By stepping on the ice for the Western Conference Final, Marner made it further into the postseason than Toronto has since 2002, and if Vegas pulls off the upset against the Avs, he'll be playing for a Cup that the Leafs haven't had the opportunity to win since 1967. From a competitive standpoint alone, Vegas made sense.
What makes it worse in Ontario is that Marner is killing it in these playoffs, after he took a sun's worth of heat for failing to produce in potential Leafs clinchers. Marner's seven goals in 13 appearances for Vegas so far (plus 12 assists) steamrolls his Leafs rate of 13 goals in 70 games. And as great as his assist in Denver was on Wednesday, no play from the postseason's leading point-getter (or maybe anybody) was cooler than his breakaway 180 between-the-legs goal to jumpstart Vegas's Game 6 win over the Ducks last round.
Whether it's Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Noah Hanifin, Tomáš Hertl, or now Marner, the Golden Knights love to take a talented player in a frustrating situation and let him taste a new level of competitive hockey. They don't do this for altruistic reasons—in a desert city saturated with entertainment, it helps to be able to market your hockey team with an all-star lineup—but I could imagine it being relieving for someone like Marner to come to Sin City after the pressure cooker that is Toronto. Back up north, Auston Matthews was required to score goals. Marner had no choice but to be the playmaker. Any kind of slump was magnified by the media and fans into epic disaster.
I wouldn't go so far as to call Vegas "relaxing," but it's definitely different. They've got big names to spare, especially with the development of Dorofeyev as a leading scorer, and they earned their championship just three years ago, so there's no talk of a drought. Marner got off to a slow start, and his regular season felt downright anonymous compared to his later Toronto years. He tallied fewer points than he did in any non-COVID year since 2018. He averaged less ice time per game than he has since he was 21. The result? He looks healthy, vigorous, and in control when it matters most: sparking offense, forcing turnovers, and making major contributions on the penalty kill. Vegas was nowhere near as successful as the Avalanche were throughout the season, but I won't belittle the offensive threat posed by a team where Mitch Marner is just one of several first-class skaters. Colorado goalie Scott Wedgewood certainly won't, either.
It's going to be very annoying when the Golden Knights salvage Gavin McKenna's career in 2037.
