Toronto Maple Leafs: Mitch Marner a Certified Hart Trophy Candidate

TORONTO, CANADA - NOVEMBER 30: Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates with teammate Auston Matthews #34 after scoring a late goal that tied the franchise point streak record of 18 games against the San Jose Sharks during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on November 30, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Maple Leafs defeated the Sharks 3-1. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, CANADA - NOVEMBER 30: Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates with teammate Auston Matthews #34 after scoring a late goal that tied the franchise point streak record of 18 games against the San Jose Sharks during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on November 30, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Maple Leafs defeated the Sharks 3-1. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs Mitch Marner has had an unbelievable November.

The Toronto Maple Leafs other MVP candidate put up 20 points this month alone, earning him the NHL’s third star of the month, and putting him at 31 points which is only 3 points away from 5th in the NHL.

After a slow start with only 11 points in October, things are finally heating up for both him and teammate Auston Matthews.

After tying the record on Wednesday last night he officially broke the Leafs Franchise record for points in consecutive games and now stands alone in Leafs history with his 19-game point streak.  However, his remarkable play actually goes back all the way to January 15th, 2022, last season when he returned from injury.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Mitch Marner Is On Fire

Since January 15th 2022, Mitch Marner has played 76 games and leads the NHL with 67 5v5 points.  Out of all players with a minimum of 900 5v5 minutes since then, Marner leads the NHL with an incredible 3.85 points per 60.

Auston Matthews has 30 5v5 goals during this time, Jason Robertson has 27.  Mitch Marner has 26 and is 3rd in the NHL.

During this time it’s no surprise that Connor McDavid has the most points, with 116, but Marner has 107 and is in second place overall.

While Connor has nine extra points, Marner more than makes up for it with better 5v5 production and way better defense, where outside of Patrice Bergeron he may be the NHL’s best defensive forward.    (All stats from naturalstattrick.com)

With 3 short handed goals and 2 short handed assists, in the same time frame, Mitch Marner is the only player in the top 20 scorers of the 2022 calendar year to have more than a single of either. His defensive play at 5v5 and on the penalty kill has been outstanding too, being only 1 short of leading all forwards in takeaways this season.

All this to say he is making himself a good case for the Selke this year.

The longest point streak by an active player is Patrick Kane’s 26 game streak back in 2015.  We’ll see how long Mitch can keep his point steak active but much like with Matthews “60 goals is 60 goals,” if the streak gets long enough it might just put him in the running for a Hart and/or Ted Lindsey award.

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Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars will be the first time in NHL history that two players with point streaks over 18 games play against one another. Let see if Marner can hit 20 and the Leafs can bring Jason Robertson’s streak to a halt.