Paradise in Leafland as Marner joins club
Sunday in Newfoundland had a new Maple Leaf line comprised of a new left-winger, a new father and a new multimillionaire.
About a 1,000 locals got a first look at Kasperi Kapanen, John Tavares and Mitch Marner before their debut, perhaps in Tuesday’s exhibition against the Senators at Mile One Centre in St. John’s or Wednesday in Ottawa.
After a whirlwind few days of life-changing events in Toronto, there was a huge ovation when the re-signed Marner and proud papa Tavares made their first appearances on the ice. They quickly got down to business with Kapanen, who gets the first chance to plug in at left wing in place of the injured Zach Hyman.
Kapanen not only has to switch sides, he’s expected to fill Hyman’s bloodhound role retrieving pucks.
“I’ll let them do all the nice things and I’ll do the dirty work,” Kapanen said. “It will be skating, getting the puck to them and standing in front of the net.
“(Left wing) is something I haven’t played in a while, but I was there when I was younger, and back and forth with the (American Hockey League’s Toronto) Marlies. It’s nothing that new to me, but something to adjust to and get better at. Obviously, when we break out, I’m getting the puck a lot on my back hand, but like I say it’s just hockey and I’ll try to figure it out.”
A sea of Marner sweaters were visible in the crowd after three days of Auston Matthews’ prominence. Marner and Tavares hooked up to beat Frederik Andersen on the first drill and just like that came the Marner celebratory fly past of fans. A few minutes later, he came to the glass to pose for selfies with kids and the animosity of a yearlong contract dispute started to fade.
Marner signed Friday for US$65.358 million over six years and was on the same plane to Newfoundland from Toronto with Tavares the next day.
“It was pretty cool,” Marner said. “When we got off the plane, people (in Leafs colours) were waiting for us. It’s not close to Toronto, so you see how many fans you have worldwide.”
Marner insisted his conditioning was fine after skating parallel to the Leafs’ summer workouts with other NHLers in the Toronto area. He and Kapanen horsed around in practice, Marner given the status of leading the stretch.
“It should be a lot of fun,” Marner said of his new line. “(Kapanen) has a lot of speed. Either of us, when we don’t have the puck, we’re going to try and find some open space for each other.” lhornby@postmedia.com