The After Life

It has

image via theleafsnation

It has been a couple weeks since Marner officially left the Leafs for Vegas and I am still not over it. It is not because he left since I was expecting that to happen but how he got to Vegas and what Marner has said since he has gotten to Vegas is what annoys me. Vegas has been known for awhile to magically get big name players in the past and Marner going there had me look into why this was taking place. I do not believe the rumors of tampering, but clearly there is something about Vegas that players like and I do not think all of it is out there in the open.

So what is it about Vegas that made Marner want to play there? He will be playing onthe top line with Eichel and Stone most likely. That is a drop from Matthews and Knies if you ask me, so his offensive numbers will drop. Does Eichel have the scoring ability of Matthews? Nope. Does Stone have the legs and upside of Knies? Nope. So, point production is not that reason why he wound up in Vegas.

How he handled the media here in Toronto seemed to be fine if you look at how he handled the press but clearly he did not like it. From what I gather he did not want his new family to be part of the media circus that is Toronto or even Canada so he want as far away as possible. Vegas is a lovely place to play and has a winning tradition, so that is why he picked them as a top landing spot.

What I do not like is that he always talked about how much he loved playing for Toronto and how much he wanted to win a Cup here, but did not take that extra step to get it done here. I do not question his talent and his offensive numbers during the regular season. He was fantastic. Magic Mitch. He showed what he can under a pressure situation during the Four Nations tournament and everything looked promising for an extended playoff run. Then all that ended.

What he could have done different to help the organization was let them know that he was most likely leaving and wanted to be in Vegas because he even said that during one of his first press conferences after signing there that he was looking forward to playing there. Should have given us a bone Mitch, but instead you gave us Nick Roy and with all due respect to him, that is not good enough. Not for a player that is arguably a top 10 player in the league. That is why I am bitter more than anything else. It has happened too often in recent memory where a franchise player leaves Toronto for nothing. Sundin was the last and I am still not over that. The upsetting thing here is that a deal could have been made. A deal was almost made for Rantanen at the deadline so you are not telling me that another team somewhere would not want Marner for some sort of package? I do not think so.

At the end of the day Marner is gone and this team needs to pivot and deal with life without him. The top line will be fine with Matthews hopefully returning to his MVP form this year and the additions this off season made the team bigger and better in the bottom six. If B.T is still looking for a top six forward and makes that happen, then the team is set. Kadri please!