BIOGRAPHY
Mitchell Marner was born May 5, 1997, in Markham, Ontario. He is a forward in the NHL.
After an impressive training camp and pre-season (in which he led the team with four assists), it was announced that Marner would remain on the Toronto Maple Leafs roster for the upcoming 2016–17 season. He made his NHL debut in the team's season opener on October 12. Despite an effective first game with six shots on goal, he was overshadowed by a historic four-goal debut from teammate Auston Matthews. The next game on his first night playing in Hockey Night in Canada, Marner would score his first NHL goal after receiving a pass between his legs. He would record his first career assist four days later.
On October 27, 2016, in a game against the Florida Panthers, Marner had his first multi-point game, accumulating three assists to lead the Leafs to a 4–2 win. Marner would then have his first multi-goal game against the Buffalo Sabres on November 3, 2016, as the Leafs won 2–1. On November 15, 2016, Marner had three points in a 6–2 win over the Nashville Predators, which at the time tied him in the lead for Leafs' leading scorer (with James van Riemsdyk) for the first time of his career.
Marner was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for January 2017 after leading all rookies with 11 assists and 15 points in 13 games. He also led all rookies with eight power-play points and matched a career-high three point game. Marner was the third Leaf to be named Rookie of the Month during the 2016–17 season, making the Maple Leafs the first NHL team with three different Rookie of the Month honorees in one campaign.
Marner also set the Maple Leafs record for most assists in a season by a rookie with 42 on the year. This broke the previous record which was held for 73 years by Gus Bodnar, who had 40 assists in the 1943–44 season. Marner spent the entire season on a line with Van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak, finding offensive chemistry with the two veterans, and managed to finish the year with 61 points. The trio of Marner, William Nylander, and Auston Matthews became only the second team since the 1981 Quebec Nordiques to have three rookies finish with at least 60 points. His play assisted the team in qualifying for the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs, where he scored his first playoff goal on his first shift of Game 1. Marner recorded four points in the series but it was not enough as the team lost in six games against the top-seeded Washington Capitals.
On December 19, 2017, during the Maple Leafs' Next Century Game, Marner broke a 15-game goal drought and recorded a four-point game, the first time in his career. He scored one goal and three assists to help defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 8–1. On February 10, 2018, Marner scored his first five-point game (two goals and three assists), becoming the first Leafs player to record five points in a game since Tomáš Kaberle in 2009. Marner ended the regular season leading the Leafs in assists and points, and setting career highs in goals, assists and points. His offensive play helped the Leafs to their second consecutive Stanley Cup playoffs appearance. During the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, Marner became the first Maple Leafs player since Brian Leetch to have a five-game point streak in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He led the Leafs in playoff scoring with nine points but the Maple Leafs were eliminated by the Boston Bruins in seven games during the first round.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resultant limitations on cross-border travel, the 2020–21 NHL season occurred under a vastly different arrangement than previously, with the Leafs grouped in an all-Canadian North Division and playing exclusively within that division for the regular season. On April 15, 2021, Marner became the fourth player in Maple Leafs history to record at least five consecutive seasons with 40 assists. The Maple Leafs finished first in the North Division, and faced the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs, where they were considered the heavy favourites to win, which would have been the team's first playoff series win since 2004. The Leafs lost the first game of the series, but won the next three to take a seeming stranglehold. However, they went on to lose the next three games and the series 4–3, the team's fifth-straight early exit. Marner again scored only four assists in the post-season, this time in seven games, further amplifying criticism of his perceived underperformance. At the end of the year, Marner was named to the NHL First All-Star Team on right wing, the first time a Maple Leafs player was named to the NHL's First All-Star team since Börje Salming in 1977.
With the restoration of the traditional season, Marner enjoyed another highly successful regular season, recording 35 goals and 62 assists in 72 games. Marner, Matthews and newcomer Michael Bunting formed one of the most successful forward lines in the league for much of the year. On February 26, 2022, Marner recorded a career high four goals and six points to help the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 10-7 win over the Detroit Red Wings. It was the first NHL hat-trick and four-goal game in his career. After recording a natural hat-trick in the second period, Marner capped off his night by scoring the Leafs' tenth goal, his fourth of the game, on a Michael Bunting breakaway drop-pass that Marner started deploying that season. The last time the Maple Leafs recorded 10 goals in a game was a 10-2 victory on Jan. 4, 2007 over the Boston Bruins. Having accrued 97 points, Marner hoped to become only the fourth Maple Leaf player to break the 100-point barrier, but coach Sheldon Keefe opted to sit him out of the final game of the season to prepare for the playoffs. Marner admitted it was "definitely tough," but said that "at the same time, I want to just make sure I'm ready to go." At the end of the year, Marner was again named to the NHL First All-Star team as the league's best right winger, joining teammate Auston Matthews on the first team.
Advancing into the Stanley Cup playoffs, Marner and the Maple Leafs drew the Tampa Bay Lightning, two-time defending champions, in the first round. Marner had not scored a goal in eighteen playoff games prior to the beginning of the series, and in light of disappointing results against both the Blue Jackets and the Canadiens, how he would perform against the Lightning was subject to considerable speculation. In Game 1 of the series against the Lightning, Marner scored his first playoff goal since April 11, 2019, as part of a 5–0 Leafs victory. He had two assists as well, nearly equaling his totals from each of the previous two playoff series in a single game.
