THE PASS AND THE PRESENT
Mitch Marner leads all rookies in assists and, now, in points. But the Leafs star is still making adjustments,
On most subjects, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews would be joking with each other, trying to keep things light in their first NHL season. But when it comes to the rookie scoring race, where the friends and teammates are one-two in the league, well, that’s a subject they don’t want to broach.
Marner and Matthews mirror other NHLers in prescribing to a teamfirst approach rather than focus on individual goals.
“No, we haven’t even joked about it,” Marner said Tuesday as the Leafs left practice for a pair of road games — in Detroit on Wednesday, and Philadelphia Thursday — before the all-star break. “We try to stay off hockey talk a lot and just have fun off the ice.”
Marner, with a goal and an assist in Monday’s win over Calgary, took over the rookie scoring lead from Matthews. He has 39 points, Matthews has 38, and Winnipeg star Patrik Laine, who was expected to return Tuesday from a concussion, entered the day with 37.
One of Marner’s top skills might, at times, be one of his flaws. He loves to pass, and admits his pass-first men- tality is something he’s working on.
“That’s one of my bigger problems,” Marner said. “I feel like I need to make one more pass . . . it’s something that’s always been around me. So it takes time, but it will come.”
Passing, of course, hasn’t harmed Marner’s development curve. He leads all NHL rookies with 28 assists, seven more than teammate William Nylander and former junior linemate Matthew Tkachuk, who are tied for second. But the Leafs are stressing that he work more shots into his approach. Matthews, for instance, leads all rookies with 157 shots. Marner has 113.
Marner is also aware of the defensive challenges of the NHL.
“I need to focus on it a lot and every young kid needs to focus on it a lot too,” Marner said. “Guys at this level can jump past you all the time. There’s so many great players, it’s a whole new level. So you really have to know what position you need to be in all the time.”
The key to Marner’s success at this juncture of the season, though, has been finding the right balance between dealing with the challenges of being a professional and having fun with a team that is blessed with so many solid players in the 19- to 23year-old range.
Take, for instance, the ribbing 26year-old Nazem Kadri took from teammates, rookies included, when it was learned that his pet cat has an
“We try to stay off hockey talk a lot and just have fun off the ice.” MITCH MARNER LEAFS ROOKIE
Instagram account.
“We were definitely joking with him, (the Instagram account is) getting pretty popular,” Marner said, smiling.
Marner is also learning from Kadri, who passed the 100-goal plateau for his career Tuesday night. Kadri, like Marner a star with the London Knights in junior, has embraced the defensive side of his game and developed offensively at the same time. He has swallowed some uncomfortable assignments, namely driving the net on the power play. That has resulted in more scoring chances close to the goal, and a more successful shooting percentage.
“I didn’t like it at first because I’m used to playing the outside on the power play and working the flanks,” Kadri said. “But we’ve got great players on the power play and I don’t mind going to the net and finishing plays now.”
Marner’s learning process and success are also tied to veteran linemates Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk.
“Both of them have helped me so much on and off the ice, they trust me with the puck and you don’t see that lot (in the NHL), being a young kid,” Marner said.
“They both work hard and I’ve been able to learn a lot from them.”