Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner finally snapped his point-streak on Thursday night but he should be celebrated for his amazing accomplishment.
Over the past few seasons, being a Toronto Maple Leafs has been incredibly fun, highlighted by Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares.
But, Stephen, how can you say it’s “fun” when the team has lost in the First Round of the playoffs every year since Matthews has been drafted? How can it be “fun” to get your hopes up before ultimately losing in the most heart-breaking way ever?
Well, Mr. or Mrs. Pessimist, prior to Matthews being drafted here, the team never made the playoffs. From 2004-2017 the Leafs didn’t even make the playoffs. They couldn’t even muster one season where they were a top-eight team in the Eastern Conference, so how can everyone be so rattled when all they do now is win?
Wouldn’t you rather have a chance and lose than have zero chance at all to win in the spring?
It’s not like Toronto has squeaked into the playoffs with zero expectations over the past couple years. They have been legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, only to break our hearts into a million pieces.
Toronto Maple Leafs Continue to Break New Records Every Year
Anyways, back to Mitch Marner.
The fact that he registered a point in 23 consecutive games is amazing and it needs to be talked about more. Since scoring dropped in the mid-nineties, only Patrick Kane and Sidney Crosby had more games with consecutive points, so it shows you just how special his year has been.
The crazier fact is that there are players such as Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Guy Lafleur who had multiple 23-game point streaks or more, so Marner is only the 11th player in NHL history to have reached a 23-game point streak.
That fun-fact needs to be celebrated more and so do the other accomplishments that Leafs players have done over the past few years.
For example, Auston Matthews winning the Calder Trophy, Maurice “Rocket” Richard and Hart Trophies are all accomplishments that we hadn’t seen a player do in decades. Matthews is the only Leafs player to win the “Rocket”, was the first player to win the Calder since 1966 and first player to win the Hart since 1955.
Furthermore, the Leafs had their most points of all time in 2021-22, most wins in 2021-22 and may break both of those records this year.
Lastly, Jack Campbell’s 11 consecutive wins to start a season in 2021 broke the NHL record for highest win-streak to start a campaign.
Basically, all I’m trying to point out is that although this team may aggravate you and make you want to punch a hole in the wall during the playoffs, the process is so much fun. This is the best era of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey since there were only six teams in the NHL and it needs to be talked about.
Let’s enjoy the ride because it may be over before we know it.