Mitch Marner leading the NHL playoffs in points proves he was never the problem in Toronto
Photo credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
Mitch Marner's four-point night on Friday pushed him to the top of the NHL scoring leaderboard this postseason, showing it wasn't him that failed Toronto.
If you had to point to one player who took the brunt of the criticism for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs it was no doubt Mitch Marner. Despite actually being their best offensive player, he was looked at as someone who never stepped up when it mattered most.
Well, considering he's been on a tear this year with Vegas, you start to wonder where it went wrong. Not only is he leading the postseason in scoring, but he did so on the back of his first career hat-trick in the playoffs and capping off a four-point night with a 6-2 win against the Ducks:
But it's striking that Marner was able to not only dominate on Friday but also throughout the entire postseason, and his elite two-way game is ensuring Vegas has every chance to life the Stanley Cup this season.
Toronto's Core Four wasn't the biggest problem in the postseason
So if Marner was never the issue in Toronto, then what was it?
All the criticism has pointed to Marner as well as the rest of the Core Four for not pulling through when things mattered most. It's factual that in Games 5-7 they absolutely messed the bed but you also have to account for their defensive makeup at the time.
When Nikita Zaitsev and Matt Hunwick are the ones you're relying on against Alex Ovechkin like in 2017, it's a tough ask and Toronto had nowhere near the elite Frederik Andersen we're seeing today with the Hurricanes either.
You can't really blame Marner when he's done a lot of the heavy lifting only to have his blueline let him down time and time again.
Toronto's priority needs to be from the back or things fall apart quickly
Fast forward to Toronto in the current day and we're still looking at some serious defensive issues and as this season showed us - that needs to change ASAP.
So John Chayka needs to make sure that when he rebuilds the team this summer the onus is on finding the right guys on the back end. He knows they need puck-movers and better neutral zone protection so finding a playmaker is crucial.
Someone like Dougie Hamilton or Darren Raddysh wouldn't solve the youth problem but it would give Toronto much more versatility on the back end. Also he needs to figure out what to do with Chris Tanev, and if he is able to come back.
If so, that is a huge leg up on the defensive structure as the team clearly missed him all throughout this season. With him healthy alongside Jake McCabe; at least there's some hope.
But beyond that, they need to find some real reckless grinders. Guys who don't mind throwing their body in front of the puck at any moment. If it's at all possible, try and bring in Rasmus Andersson to see if he's able to steady the line.
There's moves that have to be made, and Auston Matthews is likely going to be at the forefront of those changes because if it doesn't improve he's like headed out of town.
So with Toronto still needing to fix their blueline, it goes to show that maybe Mitch Marner did deserve a bit of flak but nowhere near what he got - and he's proven to be one helluva playoff performer.
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