Close Menu
    donate us
    NHL

    Leafs Star Marner Has No Choice but to Focus On the Positives to Sustain Him Through the 2024-25 Season

    6 Mins Read
    Leafs Star Marner Has No Choice but to Focus On the Positives to Sustain Him Through the 2024-25 Season

    Mitch Marner

    Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

    It’s not always easy for hockey fans to separate their feelings for players as players, and their feelings for players as fellow human beings, but sophisticated fans do that all the time. And that’s why – despite his struggles as an NHL playoff performer, Toronto Maple Leafs star winger Mitch Marner is still a good guy to cheer for. 

    Since he came into the league eight years ago, Marner has been one of the more charitable players, often raising money the way he did Wednesday when he helped raise $14 million for an Ontario hospital.

    By all accounts, Marner was beloved by the crowd. There were no “trade him” cries from fans, the way there are on social media message boards and podcasts. There were no frothy-mouthed meltdowns all around him, the way there are at local rinks and in the press. On Wednesday, it was just Marner and happy Leafs fans, and that’s going to have to be the fuel that pushes the star winger as he battles the general sense of frustration that’s grown and grown around the team as of late.

    And don’t get us wrong – Marner is deserving of criticism that’s come his way. The NHL is a zero-sum business, and if you’re not part of the solution in terms of wins and losses in playoff games, you’re part of the problem. That’s where things lie at present with Marner and the rest of his teammates. They all have earned the slings and arrows they’ve received recently. And the only way they can shut up the doubters is to win when games matter most.

    That said, Marner can’t be the scapegoat for the Leafs’ woes. And that’s certainly why Toronto GM Brad Treliving can’t trade Marner just for the sake of a trade. Marner is still an elite regular-season performer – he had 85 points in 69 games in 2023-24 – and if Leafs management does decide to move on from Marner, it will happen close to the trade deadline next spring. The experiment is not yet over.

    For now, though, Marner has no choice but to focus on the positive to help him navigate the choppy waters ahead. The people who came out and fundraised with him Wednesday are the smiling, happy faces Marner has to keep in the front of his mind. He’s playing for family, friends and himself, but Marner needs more support than that, and in that respect, he’s fortunate he’s in a market where fans genuinely want players to succeed.

    The smiling, happy Marner we saw Wednesday has to stay that way once the season begins or risk the negativity corrupting his game and starting a snowball effect that pushes him out of Toronto for pennies on the competitive dollar. Even if you think Marner ought to be traded and a new era has to begin for the Leafs, you should want Marner to be a high-impact player to increase the haul Treliving can get for him in a trade.

    At his own charity event recently, Marner chose not to speak about trade talk and the dissatisfaction some people have with his game. You can’t fault Marner for that. To move in the opposite direction would be an obvious case of self-flagellation. It’s only natural he’d want to control as much of the message as he can.

    But make no mistake – when the season does begin, and when the playoffs arrive, Marner will be well-advised to put cynics at the back of his mind and put the love the fans have for him at its forefront. It’s one of the only ways he’s got to keep his sanity as the walls close in around him, and it’s an insulation that many NHL stars have needed as they battle the fishbowl existence that comes with playing in Toronto.

    Accentuate the positive wherever and however you can, and use the genuine emotion Leafs fans generate daily to help sustain your belief in yourself. That’s Marner’s job now. He can either drown in the anger that comes from a long-term sports history he hasn’t authored most of, or he can steel his spine, put his nose to the grindstone and be fueled by the joy he brings to hockey lovers as the spiritual nourishment that all elite athletes need on some basic level to get by. 

    The 2024-25 campaign may wind up being a low point in Marner’s career, but he can’t go into the season thinking that way, lest a self-fulfilling prophecy take place. He doesn’t need to address the doubters, but Marner has to protect his psyche from the corrosive consequences of frustration and failure.

    Related: NHL Expansion: The Very Good Case for Why Toronto Should Get a Second Team

    Related: The Best Stanley Cup Finals That Never Happened

    Related: Breaking Down a Possible Extension for John Tavares With the Maple Leafs

    Read original article here

    News Summary:

    • Leafs Star Marner Has No Choice but to Focus On the Positives to Sustain Him Through the 2024-25 Season
    • Check all news and articles from the latest NHL updates.
    Denial of responsibility! SportDaily24 is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email: [email protected] The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
    Share.

    Related Posts