Maple Leafs Mitch Marner enters the most important season of his career

Fox explains what every Maple Leafs fan feels with regards to Mitch Marner and how he is viewed with the team and what he will be judged on which will be his playoff performance. With the star-studded talent this team has, the Maple Leafs are likely to make the playoffs this year and will have the biggest microscope in the NHL.

General manager Brad Treliving along with Brendan Shanahan have chosen to run back the core yet again for one more try. Likely due to contract constraints that prevent any trades from occurring due to no movement clauses, players like Marner will thrive once again in the regular season but the true test will come in the first round of the playoffs.

Last season, he only had three points in seven games which helped the team get booted from the first round yet again. It's quite likely that tree living will not extend Marner for the foreseeable future and Marner has no desire to move off his no movement clause as he expressed to fans and the media that he loves playing for the Maple Leafs and for the city of Toronto as he is a hometown player.

The only way Marner will stay with the Maple Leafs in my opinion is that he will need to dig deeper into his game and find a way to breakthrough his playoffs troubles and show the fans and show the management that he can play the tougher, dirtier style of playoff game that fans are relishing for and that this core can carry them well into the playoffs with a possible Stanley Cup Finals berth.

Source: Sportsnet
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