We have reached the end of the first month of 2024–25 Toronto Maple Leafs hockey, and while the team has had mixed performances – currently with a 6–4–1 record and sitting third in the Atlantic Division – there have been some bright spots on the roster. Possibly the brightest of these has been the play of Mitch Marner, a player who has received a lot of hate from Leafs nation, especially in this past offseason, but is now tied for the team lead in points.
While he’s only tallied a single goal to start the year, Marner has added on 11 assists for a team-leading 12 points total through 11 games. These assists have come in bunches too as the 27-year-old winger has put up two three-assist games – one against the Los Angeles Kings on October 16, and most recently against the Boston Bruins on October 26. Clearly, Marner is proving the haters wrong thus far.
Why has Marner seen such hate?
To refresh the memories, Marner has been the focus of much fan scrutiny which came to a head this past offseason when the Leafs were eliminated, as per usual, by the Boston Bruins during the first round in seven games. Much of the scrutiny comes down to Marner’s minimal playoff performance and his overall carelessness with the puck. The Markham, Ontarian forward has been in the team’s top three in terms of giveaways during the regular season for the past five years and was first on the team in giveaways during the 2019–20 and 2022–23 seasons.
Possibly the biggest kicker though is the amount of money the team is shelling out for Marner’s services. He is in the final season of a six-year contract with an annual value of $10.9M. He’s still only the third highest-paid player on the team, but with that much of the team’s salary going toward him, it makes sense for fans to hold him to a high standard. It is also because of this large contract that the team has been hard-pressed to find deals that could ship Marner out of Toronto and bring in alternative talent; so whether Leafs fans like it or not, Marner will likely spend the entirety of the 2024–25 season with the team before he either returns or leaves in free agency.
This looming free agency period has been a major talking point amongst the fans and media, but Marner has appeared to block it out. He refused to take any Leafs-related questions when doing an interview with CTV for his Marner Assist Foundation charity and then said he wouldn’t be taking any contract-related questions during a presser at the start of training camp back in September.
Love is the answer
It seems that Marner’s emphasis on the game over fan scrutiny and contract talks has worked thus far and maybe it is time for fans to be a little easier on their home-town star. Sure he has had past hiccups on the ice, and yes, his contract is definitely expensive, but he is off to a very solid start this season and showing the winger some love will give that success a better shot at continuing than if he just receives the same scrutiny that he’s seen as of late.
Marner has been an assist machine to start the season and as of right now, he’s arguably been the Leafs’ best guy. What happens for the remainder of the regular season and then the post-season remains to be seen, and whether he will remain a Leaf come free agency time is unknown. But for now, hating on Marner through his success is not the answer. While his performance is high, it’s time to show him some love.
