To keep Mitch Marner in London for a fourth season of junior would be doing the kid a disservice.
All the Toronto Maple Leafs prospect has proven during his tornado-like rip through the Ontario Hockey League playoffs and, now, the Memorial Cup is that he’s on a level generally referred to as “next.”
The 19-year-old play-maker is skating pirouettes around his opponents and posting up numbers like he has the cheat code. The Knights captain has 13 points in three Memorial Cup contests.
And before you call “small sample size,” consider the 2.44 points per game he averaged during 18 OHL playoff contests, or the fact he won both the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL’s most outstanding player during the regular season and the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as playoff MVP.
What’s left to prove? To learn? Challenge is the lifeblood of the superstar athlete.
The best option for Marner’s development is the American Hockey League, but that option is nonexistent (which is ridiculous but an argument for another day).
“It’s not an accident that this young man is doing what he’s doing now,” Maple Leafs’ director of player personnel Mark Hunter told the Sportsnet panel on-air Tuesday. “He did it in minor hockey, he’s doing it in Junior A, and he’ll do it in the National Hockey League.”
Yes, playing against men who are strong, fast, and all growed up will represent the greatest adjustment in Marner’s career, but another year in junior would be a waste and could possibly stagnate his improvement.
Hunter is perhaps Marner’s greatest supporter. He took a chance drafting the undersized kid into the OHL, then chose him again in 2015 for the Leafs with blue-chip defence prospect Noah Hanifin still on the board.
The scout praises the teen’s passing ability and hockey sense, but those attributes are obvious.
“I really like his grit, his determination,” Hunter said. “He wants to be that big-time player in key situations. It’s a hard thing to teach. His compete level is really, really high.”
When I met Marner one year ago at this time, I questioned — as we all do — his size, perhaps generously listed as 5-foot-11 and 163 pounds.
He pointed out how 5-foot-8 Tyler Johnson is a star. Johnny Gaudreau, 5-foot-9, isn’t too bad either. Marner’s older brother, Christopher, grew late. He didn’t reach his peak height, 6-foot-2, until 22. Marner is hopeful he’s got a few more inches to go, too.
“The NHL’s changed. It’s not about height. It’s not about cross-checking as hard as you can. It’s not about hooking. A lot of those will get you a penalty nowadays,” the prospect told me. “It’s about the speed game now; it’s about thinking. If you have the brain to play in the NHL, you can play. If you can dodge hits, you can play. It’s up to you to put the work in.”
Marner’s next junior game should be his final junior game. It goes Sunday: the MasterCard Memorial Cup final.
After that, the Maple Leafs want him to take a break and rest after an extended 2015-16 season that included NHL rookie and training camps plus a prominent role on Canada’s world junior squad.
Then it’s to the gym, where he’ll bulk up as strong as possible and condition his body for the runs that will undoubtedly come.
LISTEN: Kyle Dubas talks Marlies, Marner, Zaitsev
Maple Leafs assistant GM Kyle Dubas said Wednesday that the big club will “extremely patient” with their decision on where Marner plays in 2016-17.
For the player, it’s not about putting on weight, however. It’s about preparing his body to withstand the contact endured over a rigorous 82-game campaign.
“You’d love everybody to be 6-3, 215 pounds and be able to skate and make great plays, but it’s just not the way the game works out,” Dubas told Jeff Blair on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. “I know Mike [Babcock] and our coaching staff will put him in a good spot to succeed.”
Hunter has no doubt Marner will do whatever it takes to get his body and mind ready for Toronto this fall.
“Of course he will, because he’s a hockey player,” Hunter said. “If he does that, he’ll have a real good chance to make the hockey club and get every opportunity to do his thing.”
