Mitchell Marner

Mitchell Marner
Born (1997-05-05) May 5, 1997
Markham, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb)
Position Centre / Right Wing
Shoots Right
NHL team Toronto Maple Leafs
NHL Draft 4th overall, 2015
Toronto Maple Leafs
Playing career 2016–present

Mitchell "Mitch" Marner (born May 5, 1997) is a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). Marner was born in Markham, Ontario, but grew up in Thornhill, Ontario. He was selected 4th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

Minor

Marner started his youth hockey career playing for the Clarington Toros of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) as a seven year old, primarily playing with and against players a year older. After a year with the Toros, Marner moved to the Whitby Wildcats, also a part of OMHA. He spent two years playing for the Wildcats before transitioning to the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL), where he joined the Vaughan Kings and went on to win a GTHL title.[1]

For the 2012–13 season, Marner transitioned to the Don Mills Flyers of the GTHL where he played his minor midget year, registering 86 points in 55 games.[2] He finished second in scoring in the GTHL behind Dylan Strome (who was then playing with the Toronto Marlboros). At the end of his season with the Flyers, he was immediately invited to joint the St. Michael's Buzzers of the Ontario Junior A Hockey League, where he went on to win a championship.

During his minor midget season, Marner was initially unsure of his plans for the following season. He received a scholarship offer from the University of Michigan, while also being drafted by the London Knights in the first round of the 2013 OHL Priority Selection, 19th overall.[3]

Major junior

Marner with the Knights

Despite receiving a scholarship offer from the University of Michigan, Marner elected to sign with the London Knights, who selected him with their first round pick in the 2013 Priority Selection.[4]

Marner had a strong rookie season with the Knights, registering 59 points in 64 games and was the runner up for the OHL rookie of the year, behind Travis Konecny.

During the 2014–15 OHL season, Marner experienced superb play playing alongside line mate Max Domi. As the season progressed, Marner was consistently included as one of the top prospects in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, being listed as a definitive top ten pick, if not top five. He would lead the league in scoring for most of the season until Dylan Strome of the Erie Otters recorded six points in the final game of the season, knocking Marner down to second. in reward for his outstanding sophomore season, he was named to the OHL First All-Star team and awarded the Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy as the OHL's highest scoring right wing player.[5] Marner would end up being selected fourth overall by the hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.

Marner lifts the Memorial Cup over his head after the London Knights won the 2016 championship.

On July 28, 2015, the Leafs signed Marner to a three-year entry level contract.[6]

On October 1, 2015, Marner was named as co-captain of the Knights along with teammate, Christian Dvorak. Marner played most of the season at right wing on a line with Dvorak and Matthew Tkachuk. The trio was a dominant force and the Knights ended the regular season as the highest scoring team in the OHL. Marner himself finished the regular season second in league scoring with 116 points in 57 games and was awarded the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL's most outstanding player of the year.[7]

Marner played an important role during the Knights' 2016 playoff run, resulting in the team winning the OHL Championship. Marner led the playoffs in scoring and with 44 points in 18 games and was awarded the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as the playoff MVP.[8]

Marner helped lead the Knights in winning the 2016 Memorial Cup. He won both the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy and the Ed Chynoweth Trophy as tournament MVP and leading scorer.

Toronto Maple Leafs

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 Maple Leafs roster for the upcoming 2016–17 season.[9] He made his NHL debut in the team's season opener on October 12. Despite a great debut, he was overshadowed by a historic night from teammate Auston Matthews. The next game, Marner would score his first NHL goal.[10][11] Marner would pick up 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 3 assists to lead the Leafs to a 3-2 win.[12] Marner would then have his first multi-goal game against the Buffalo Sabres on November 2, 2016 and the Leafs defeated the Sabres 2-1.[12] On November 15, 2016, Marner had 3 points in a 6-2 win over the Nashville Predators,[12] which, at the time, put him in the joint-lead for Leafs' leading scorer (with James van Riemsdyk) for the first time of his career.

International play

Marner made his international debut for Canada at the 2014 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, where he won a gold medal. He tied Mathew Barzal for the leading scorer from Canada at the tournament.

At the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships held in Helsinki, Marner and Dylan Strome each scored four goals and 2 assists in 5 games to lead the Canadian team in scoring.[13] Canada reached the quarterfinals, but was eliminated by the host Finland. Marner scored twice in the game, both times to bring Canada back to an even score, but it wasn't enough to overcome the eventual gold medalists.[14]

Personal life

Marner was born in Markham, Ontario, but spent the majority of his life in Thornhill, Ontario. His parents are Paul and Bonnie Marner and he has a brother, Christopher, who is four years older.[15] The Marners consider themselves an animal family; they currently own two pets, a cat named Burbank and a chocolate Labrador, Winston.[16]

Marner attended Hill Academy, a private school focused on athletics, located in Vaughan.[3] He would later go to Blyth Academy.[16] At Blyth, Marner partnered with Knights teammates Christian Dvorak and Owen MacDonald to establish a cafe known as MOD Feast, with MOD being an acronym for each creators names (Marner, Owen and Dvorak).[16] The group offered "bagels and stuff", with Fridays being designated to serving pizza.[16]

Growing up, Marner was a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the team that eventually drafted him. He was also a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks due to the presence of his two favourite players, Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane.[17] Alongside hockey, Marner has listed his favourite movie as Step Brothers, his favourite television show as The Big Bang Theory, and cited his favourite video games as the Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty series'.[17]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2012–13 Don Mills Flyers GTHL 55 41 45 86 34 — — — — —
2012–13 St. Michael's Buzzers OJHL 6 1 3 4 0 14 3 1 4 0
2013–14 London Knights OHL 64 13 46 59 24 9 3 6 9 4
2014–15 London Knights OHL 63 44 82 126 53 7 9 7 16 8
2015–16 London Knights OHL 57 39 77 116 68 18 16 28 44 8
OHL totals 184 96 205 301 145 34 28 41 69 20

International

Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2014 Canada Ontario U17 5th 5 6 3 9 2
2014 Canada IH18 1st, gold medalist(s) 5 2 5 7 6
2016 Canada WJC 6th 5 4 2 6 4
Junior totals 15 12 10 22 12

Awards and honours

Award Year
OHL
Second All-Rookie Team 2014 [18]
2x OHL All-Star 2015, 2016
2x First All-Star Team 2015, 2016 [19]
Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy 2015 [5]
Red Tilson Trophy 2016 [7]
Robertson Cup Champion 2016 [20]
Wayne Gretzky 99 Award 2016 [8]
CHL
CHL Top Prospects Game 2015
CHL Player of the Year 2016
Memorial Cup champion 2016
Memorial Cup All-Star team 2016
Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy 2016
Ed Chynoweth Trophy 2016

References

  1. ↑ McNair, Brian (May 16, 2014). "Mitchell Marner's road to the Memorial Cup started in Clarington". DurhamRegion.com. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  2. ↑ Bras, Kristopher (March 28, 2015). "London Knights Mitchell Marner A Force To Be Reckoned With". Hockey Now. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Pyette, Ryan (April 9, 2013). "London Knights take Mitch Marner with first round pick in OHL draft 0". London Free Press.
  4. ↑ "Marner Commits to Knights". London Knights Official Website. August 22, 2013.
  5. 1 2 "Marner wins Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy". Ontario Hockey League. March 24, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Maple Leafs sign Marner to entry-level contract". mapleleafs.nhl.com. July 28, 2015. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Mitch Marner Named OHL Most Outstanding Player of the Year". Ontario Hockey League. May 3, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  8. 1 2 "Marner wins 99 Trophy as Playoff MVP". Ontario Hockey League. May 11, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
  9. ↑ McGran, Kevin (October 11, 2016). "Marner makes Leafs' roster with mad skills". Toronto Star. TorStar. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  10. ↑ Alter, David (October 15, 2015). "Mitchell Marner scores in Maple Leafs win". NHL.com. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Mitchell Marner's first goal gets Punjabi treatment". NHL.com. October 15, 2016. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
  12. 1 2 3 https://www.nhl.com/player/mitchell-marner-8478483?stats=gamelogs-r-nhl&season=20162017
  13. ↑ "Player Statistics by Team – Team Canada, 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships" (PDF). IIHF. 2 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  14. ↑ "Game Summary, Finland-Canada Quarterfinals, 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships" (PDF). IIHF. 2 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  15. ↑ McGran, Kevin (July 9, 2015). "Mitch Marner's journey to be Maple Leafs' top pick". thestar.com. Toronto Star. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Rutherford, Kristina (February 23, 2015). "A Big Knight Every Night". Sportsnet Magazine. Rogers Media. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
  17. 1 2 "Mitch Marner – 2015 NHL Draft Prospects". nhl.com. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Travis Konecny named rookie of the year". Ontario Hockey League. April 14, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  19. ↑ "OHL annoucnes 2014–15 All-Star Teams". Ontario Hockey League. May 20, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  20. ↑ "London Knights win Robertson Cup". Ontario Hockey League. May 11, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
William Nylander		 Toronto Maple Leafs first round draft pick
2015 		Succeeded by
Auston Matthews
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