Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Mitch Marner is doing something in Vegas he couldn’t in Toronto, and it may be signs of a new Marner.
A surprise on the Vegas Golden Knights roster as Mitch Marner has moved to center for Vegas. Marner was on the Knights roster down the middle ahead of their game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Marner, who is in his first season with the Golden Knights since being acquired in a sign-and-trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs, is being tried at center behind Jack Eichel on the Vegas second line, not the first time Marner has played away from the wing.
The move comes as Marner is tried there by Vegas, Marner playing center something that the Leafs has tried to limited success, but were unable to replicate Marner’s performance on the wing.
With Marner potentially looking to become a dual forward with Vegas, it would make for something that Toronto couldn’t get out of Marner, but the Knights may be able to finally unlock.
Could Vegas unlock the best out of Mitch Marner this season?
The Vegas Golden Knights could get a real center out of Mitch Marner, and it’s something Toronto could never get out of him.
Marner always had the potential to work out as a center. Marner had played the position as a youth before moving to the wing. Marner plays a highly effective defensive game with good details.
Having been one of the Leafs top defenders, despite a lack of physical play, Marner couldn’t work out down the middle, and Toronto may have wished he could.
The ability for Marner to have shifted to center would have allowed for the Leafs to gain much needed center depth, and move Tavares either to the wing or 3C, both moves that would help issues for Toronto.
Vegas is without a center currently in William Karlsson, but if Marner can stick full-time at center, Karlsson has experience on the wing for the Knights.
There are still questions surrounding Vegas with key injuries to their blueline in Shea Theodore, Alex Pietrangelo, and Brayden McNabb, with the depth not producing as well as Vegas would have hoped.
Goaltending has also not been optimal for the Golden Knights, with the duo of Adin Hill and Akira Schmid both under a .900 SV%, and the risk taken by signing Carter Hart hasn’t rewarded Vegas, with Hart holding a .874 SV% on the season.
If the Vegas Golden Knights can get Mitch Marner to be a natural center, they would have succeeded in something Toronto couldn’t get out of him, and could help create an even better Marner in Vegas than in Toronto.
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