Mitch Marner Just Earned Himself A Blank Check With How Ridiculously Gross This Assist Was
Claus Andersen. Getty Images.It's pretty rare that young, superstar players even make it to free agency anymore in the NHL. Everybody spends all season talking about how loaded a particular free agency class is going to be. And then by the time July 1st rolls around every summer, all those guys have already signed 8-year extensions with their current team. Free agency is nothing more than aging veterans who can add a good presence to the locker room, and young, middle 6 guys.
That might have to change this summer if Mitch Marner can hold off on signing a contract extension before July. Because there should be 31 GMs around the league right now looking to give him the chance to write any number down on a sheet of paper that he wants.
I know Marner has had his moments throughout his career where he's disappeared a bit in big games. But that's clearly not the case anymore. I don't know if it's because he's in a contract year, or maybe it was a confidence boost from playing in the Four Nations FaceOff and scoring that OT goal against Sweden. But Mitch Marner is playing like a killer. 6 points in 3 playoff games so far, and none of them were nastier than this assist to Matthews.
Ullmark didn't even know where the puck was until he heard it snapping off Matthews' stick and hitting the back of the net. That pass is so ungodly spicy, and it's just crazy to me that Mitch Marner's final contract number is going to come in somewhere around $100M. Meanwhile, Juan Soto is signing for $700+ million just because he can get a baseball that is thrown directly at him. I get it, but it's still crazy to me.
Now it would have been a goddamn shame for Marner to waste such a nasty assist in a loss. The game would eventually go to overtime after Brady Tkachuk tied things up in the 3rd. The Maple Leafs have Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly. That's $50+ million worth of of star power in just 5 guys. Clearly the Ottawa Senators are going to be just a little nervous every time one of them touch the puck in overtime, because they have the ability to deliver the dagger at any moment.
Chances are they thought they could at least breathe and relax for a second when the puck gets sent over to Simon Benoit's way. But you'd be sorely mistaken, and that's why the Leafs are now just one more win away from sweeping this series.
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Matthews is one of the best faceoff guys on the planet. The points and the goals will always be the story of Auston Matthews. Those are the stats that everybody is going to remember forever. But the faceoff numbers are just as impressive, even if they never get the love. He wins this faceoff clean, Benoit fires away before anyone else has a chance to move, and now we've got a 3-0 series on our hands.
Marner is going. Matthews is going. Stolarz is going. The glue guys are going. It's starting to feel like it might just be Toronto's year to lose in the Cup Final.