Mitch Marner's camp was reportedly ‘obsessed' with Connor McDavid

Mitch Marner and Connor McDavid played against each other in junior, and Steve Dangle's latest comments show that rivalry may have continued with Auston Matthews.

Known as one of the most passionate and dedicated fans of the Maple Leafs, Steve Dangle has built his way up from humble fan to media personality. He's also the co-host of the SDPN podcast where he gets a chance to speak his mind on all things NHL - where his latest comments are causing a stir.

Marner's camp reportedly measured his career against Connor McDavid's

Dangle was speaking about the Darren Ferris interview when the topic of Mitch Marner's career prior to Toronto came to light.

According to Dangle, Marner had constantly been compared to Connor McDavid, and that Marner's camp was 'obsessed' with the future #1 pick:

They grew up playing elite hockey against Connor McDavid, I know for a fact people around him were obsessed with Connor McDavid. Obsessed with him.

Granted, both Marner and McDavid had incredible junior careers, with Marner actually having more points overall (301) than McDavid did (285) though it led to McDavid still being drafted first by Edmonton, with Marner going fourth to Toronto.

You could also point to that as part of the tension where Marner outscored the #1 pick but still managed to go three selections later.

But that's where Dangle believes the rivalry shifted from being compared to McDavid, to now constantly being compared to Auston Matthews:

He finally gets drafted by the Leafs. He's the future of the Leafs, and then Auston arrives and you found a new thing to hate.

The story coming from Ferris was that the tension with Toronto started when they didn't offer him any performance bonuses in his first year then no Schedule B bonuses in the subsequent years. But this sheds a new light on things, where Marner - presumably the franchise star - was quickly usurped within a year.

But it seems that while Toronto was partly at fault for disregarding Marner's first contract, the camp also holds some responsibility for constantly comparing Marner to others.

Matthews' arrival may have changed the hierarchy Marner's camp expected in Toronto

Marner was drafted a year prior to Matthews, but it wasn't like he was the immediate answer to the team's problems. He spent his 2015-16 year in London before coming in next year, but because Toronto finished so terribly - they lucked out with Matthews.

His arrival did really throw a wrench into the Marner camp's plans, because suddenly there was another superstar who had much more hype and attention surrounding him; much like McDavid.

The focus shifted from being the best for the team to being the best on the team and then tension kept growing from there.

Then when you jump into the future, Matthews is being groomed to be the face of the team and the successor to John Tavares, which was a hot topic when it was announced due to reports that Marner and his camp yet again felt slighted after not being considered.

It's a lot of factors that seem to have snowballed into each other. First the comparisons to other stars as a teenager, then being overtaken by another star who then in turn gets captaincy and becomes the face of the franchise.

At this rate, you have to be wonder how things didn't reach their boiling point sooner.

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