SIMMONS: Mitch Marner stars as The Invisible Man in series vs. Bruins

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The listing of proper wingers who’ve outscored Mitch Marner in his profession is a brief one.

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It begins with two-time scoring champion, Nikita Kucherov, strikes to the sensible David Pastrnak after which stops at Marner’s identify, third at his place.

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The corporate he retains statistically, is elite.

The wage he’s paid by the Maple Leafs is Toronto overpay elite.

The consistency he has performed with as soon as establishing himself at age 21, season to season, 12 months to 12 months, has been in contrast to any Maple Leafs winger in historical past.

Thrice he has scored at greater than a 100-point tempo per an 82-game schedule. Thrice he has scored between 93 and 99 factors. Twice he has been a primary crew NHL all-star, which no Leafs ahead has been since Frank Mahovlich.

Marner’s previous 4 seasons, on a points-per-game foundation, have been virtually a straight line — 1.23, 1.23, 1.34 and 1.21.

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A line of consistency. A line of excellence.

All of which makes his bizarre playoffs, once more this 12 months, greater than disquieting.

He yearns to be a celebrity in additional than paycheque. He yearns to be a difference-maker and a hockey superstar. He yearns to be nice when it’s time to be nice — and that’s all inside him.

He doesn’t yearn to vanish the way in which wherein he has disappeared within the first two video games of this playoff sequence towards Boston. He doesn’t wish to be The Invisible Man. No one does.

That is the time of season to be nice, to face out, to be observed, to discover a means, in Rick Tocchet’s phrases, to combat your means via the ache.

In equity, this has been a transitional time for Marner and within the sequence with Boston the transition has not gone so nicely. This season, large image, was the most important separation he has had from longtime linemate Auston Matthews and never essentially from a same-line standpoint, however from a developmental standpoint.

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The higher Matthews has performed, the extra he has grown, the extra Marner appears to be the identical. Not rising. Not getting higher. Not getting worse, regular-season clever. Not altering his sport sufficient or altering it when he has to.

Matthews is flapping his wings and flying. He was the perfect Leaf in Recreation 1, but it surely was laborious to note as a result of the crew was so horrible.

He was the perfect participant on the ice in Recreation 2 and that was apparent to anybody watching. He was a person amongst boys in Boston on Monday evening, which he might be when at his skating greatest.

Marner nonetheless is studying to fly at playoff time — when there may be much less area, much less time and extra depth for a dancer who wants room to bounce.

This dance ground is simply too crowded for him. His sport is extra refined than it’s for different nice gamers. Extra instinctive. Much less time staying in his lane.

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Since Sheldon Keefe took over as Leafs coach, he immediately stapled Matthews to Marner, the M&Ms, the Maple Leafs’ Goldust Twins, the right mixture of scorer and setup man.

He mainly banked his future on the 2 kids. One with massive, huge shoulders, one skinny however immensely expert, a duo made in hockey heaven.

Then Marner bought harm this season. And Matthews surprisingly discovered his means on an unlikely line with Max Domi and Tyler Bertuzzi. Of their first 11 video games collectively, they mixed for 37 factors. Matthews scored eight objectives, Bertuzzi had seven. Domi got here alive as a special fashion of playmaker than Marner.

When Marner returned from harm in early April, Keefe — now teaching for his job — saved the brand new first line collectively and moved him to a line with John Tavares.

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It was achieved to stability the lineup. It was achieved to see if Marner may make Tavares dance the way in which he did the primary 12 months they performed collectively, when the captain scored 47 objectives.

Within the first two video games towards the Leafs, Pastrnak and Bruins captain Brad Marchand had mixed for 4 factors. Jake DeBrusk has 4 factors all by himself.

Marner has none.

And with William Nylander lacking from the primary two video games with some mysterious harm, having no factors turns into much more startling.

And actually, exterior of a aim referred to as off on a Bertuzzi excessive stick, Marner hasn’t actually been an offensive issue of any type.

Across the NHL, within the early playoff season, the ex-Leaf Zach Hyman already has scored a hat trick in Edmonton, Kyle Connor had three factors in Winnipeg’s first sport, Adrian Kempe scored two within the first sport for Los Angeles, Seth Jarvis has three in Carolina and Matthew Tkachuk has two factors in a single sport in Florida.

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In his previous eight playoff video games, going again to final April and Might, Marner has one even-strength level. In his previous 11 playoff video games, he has scored one aim.

These aren’t the type of numbers Marner would wish to hear about. He doesn’t like to listen to about what he doesn’t do or hasn’t achieved. It annoys him as a result of he expects a lot of himself. And it annoys him as a result of he’s simply irritated.

His wage pays him as a Prime 10 participant within the NHL. Prime 10 earlier than his contract comes up a 12 months from now. It’s time now for him to embrace the ache and be the participant he is aware of he might be.

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