Mitch Marner is having fun again, which means the Maple Leafs are too

You possibly can see it in the best way Mitch Marner skates, in how he interacts together with his teammates on the ice, particularly at apply, the place his power generally overflows.

“I’m all the time like that,” he says. “Ask anybody round this crew. I’m the Energizer Bunny. I’m attempting to deliver it each single day. I attempt to be the man that retains it mild and enjoyable.”

That most likely has been Marner’s most notable calling card — apart from his statistics — from the time he joined the Maple Leafs. He has been on the market enjoying a sport and having enjoyable.

“An enormous a part of his sport is his character and the power that he brings,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe says. “That’s how he performs. When he’s free and he’s assured, he’s enjoying properly and helps the crew and giving the crew gasoline and power. After which clearly his capability on the ice, that in itself provides us power.”

Issues appeared totally different at the beginning of this season, although. Marner wore the first-round playoff loss to Montreal quite closely, possibly greater than most with a fan base lastly liking what they noticed in William Nylander and turning on Marner, whose post-season statistics pale compared to what he does within the common season.

There was a gradual begin. There was a shoulder harm from an in-practice run-in with Jake Muzzin the place the 2 exchanged phrases. There was COVID. There was his incapability to attain on the ability play for nearly two calendar years.

There have been a whole lot of causes to empty the enjoyable. However since coming back from COVID, Marner has been himself once more, in apply and in video games. The burden of the world now not appears to be on his shoulders.

Keefe seen it straight away when Marner joined the crew in Arizona for a apply in the midst of what already felt like an extended journey.

“We had performed video games in three totally different time zones, and each sport was performed a special time of evening,” Keefe says. “That journey was beginning to drag a little bit bit. However with Mitch’s arrival, you might simply really feel the power of our group, and he was contemporary and (he) introduced it on the ice.”

Marner has been again for 3 video games, getting a purpose and an help in each, together with a fortunate purpose in Saturday’s 3-1 win over the New York Islanders when he misplaced management of the puck on the push and it nonetheless slid by Semyon Varlamov.

“I meant for that to occur,” says Marner, who clearly by no means misplaced his sense of humour. “Tried to go backhand and shortly again to forehand and misplaced it. Typically once you don’t know what you’re doing on a breakaway, it goes in, and that was the case in that state of affairs. I’m fairly fortunate.”

He had been unfortunate with the person benefit till final week towards the Rangers, when he scored his first power-play purpose since Feb. 1, 2020, an absurd size of time even contemplating Marner is extra passer than shooter. Given how a lot he performs on the primary power-play unit, one thing ought to have gone in for him. He stated he had not been worrying about it.

“You guys have all these stats,” Marner says. “Actually, I don’t see them anymore. I simply go away them alone. I simply need to attempt to verify I’m contributing.”

Like a rising tide, Marner raises all ships. His teammates love having him round.

“Mitch is a type of man that's speaking on a regular basis,” linemate Michael Bunting says. “He’s all the time within the combine with everyone. And he undoubtedly brings a whole lot of power into the into the locker room each single day. So he’s a enjoyable man to be round off the ice and he’s a enjoyable man to play with on the ice. The power he brings on the ice is just about the power he brings off the ice.”

And that, from a team-building standpoint, can’t be overstated.

“He’s a very fashionable teammate in our room, a man who's extraordinarily obsessed with his job,” defenceman Morgan Rielly says. “He’s all the time speaking, all the time working, all the time within the fitness center. He’s round quite a bit. Guys get used to that. He’s a voice that you just hear quite a bit.

“When he’s feeling good, it’s extraordinarily contagious ... It’s nice having him again across the crew and clearly enjoying properly.”

“It does assist once you’re producing and serving to crew serving to your crew win,” the self-described Energizer Bunny says, “however I try to try this all year long, no matter what I’m going by way of points-wise.”