McCrimmon hopes Marner can produce similar moments for the Golden Knights during the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs. Normally a wing, he has spent much of his first season with Vegas filling in for the injured William Karlsson at center, where has more than held his own, accruing 58 points (16 goals, 42 assists) and a plus-13 rating in 57 games.
“His hockey sense and skills are so elite, but he’s also so reliable defensively and he plays both special teams," McCrimmon said.
“He’s a high-end player.”
The type Mark Hunter knew he would be one day.
How much trust has Hunter had in Marner? So much that he twice helped teams to draft him.
The first one came in 2013, when the London Knights selected Marner with the No. 19 pick in the Ontario Hockey League Draft. Hunter was the Knights' general manager at the time.
Two years later, Hunter was the director of player personnel for the Maple Leafs. In his first year in that role, he oversaw the 2015 NHL Draft, when Marner was selected with the No. 4 pick.
Now, 11 years later, Hunter says he always knew Marner was capable of big moments, even when the player's cache of critics did not.
“I can’t tell you how elated I was for him when I saw him score that goal,” said Hunter, who is once again the GM of London. “It was such a big goal for Canada.
“There’s always been some question marks about his ability to produce in big games. But I’m a big believer. I believe that those who really know him are big believers that he can produce in big games. He just proved it again. And he did last year, too.”
Hunter was referring to Marner’s heroics for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off last February. He opened the tournament by scoring the overtime winner in a 4-3 win against Sweden, then closed it out by setting up Connor McDavid for the championship-winning goal in a 3-2 overtime win against the United States.
Yet there remain Maple Leafs fans who are unimpressed with Marner, pointing to the fact that Toronto won only two playoff series in his nine seasons with the organization. To that end, there were plenty of boos aimed his way at Scotiabank Arena upon his first return to Toronto, which the Golden Knights won 6-3 on Jan. 23.
It’s the type of venom Hunter says is misplaced.
“I mean, I understand these moments haven’t come at the NHL level, but those are about as big of stages as you can have,” Hunter said, referring to the Olympics and 4 Nations. “He's around the best, and right now he's showing he’s one of the best.
“He didn't play great in the playoffs, but the whole team didn't play great in the playoffs. You could look at a million different ways as to why they didn't do much in the playoffs, but it doesn't come down to one player. It's called a team, and it wasn't the right mixture, whatever happened. And so, I think people always look at one player, but it’s a team game.
“To me, what he’s doing is hard because this tournament is hard. Every game you are getting the opponent’s best because everyone wants to beat Canada. And you are playing against the best players in the world. And in these situations, despite all that, he is coming through.”
Hunter said Marner’s love of the game is what stands out about him.
But for the Foulon family, it was his love of their little girl, Hayden, that made him special. Still does.
Marner had crossed paths with Hayden during a visit to the Children's Hospital at the London Health Sciences Centre in 2015 while he was playing with London. The two became best friends, with Marner calling her “my hero.”
On Oct. 20, 2019, Hayden passed away of acute lymphoblastic leukemia at just 7 years old. To this day, Marner still wears the pink bracelet she made for him, a heartrending memento to remember her by.
