Former NHL Star Details Key Reason For Mitch Marner's Success In Vegas
The Vegas Golden Knights have a chance to take a stranglehold of the Stanley Cup Final on June 9 in Game 4.
Vegas is up 2-1 in the series over the Carolina Hurricanes, and a key reason for the Golden Knights' success is Mitch Marner. Marner scored a hat trick in Game 3 to help Vegas pick up a huge win, as he's now favored to win the Conn Smythe, which is the playoff MVP.
Marner's playoff success is a massive change from what he accomplished while he was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The most goals he scored in a single playoff run in Toronto were three, and he had three goals alone in Game 3.
Amid Marner's stunning playoff success, former NHLer and now ESPN color commentator Ray Ferraro believes there's a key reason he's succeeding in Vegas and didn't in Toronto in the postseason.
"Marner is getting so much recognition as he should," Ferraro said on Spittin' Chiclets on June 8. "But in Toronto, none of those guys had won. So, they are all looking at each other, and somebody is trying to lead, and they are all trying to lead.
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"They don't maybe know how to do it, and you go to Vegas, and they've pretty much all won. So, he doesn't have lead, even though he is right now, he doesn't have to. There's just something different, pretty clearly, about the teams, and Toronto never had as good of a team as Vegas has."
As Ferraro notes, Marner was a focal point of Toronto's offense, and the pressure was on him to succeed. However, with the Golden Knights, that isn't the case as Vegas has the likes of Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Ivan Barbashev, and Pafael Dorofeyev among others to pick up the offensive slack.
Golden Knights GM Shares Reason For Marner's Success
When Vegas traded for Marner in a sign-and-trade this offseason from the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was expected to add some more secondary scoring to the offense.
Marner was coming off his first-career 100+ point season in the NHL, and in his first year in Vegas, he had just 80 points. However, in the playoffs, Marner has taken his game to the next level as entering Game 4 he has 10 goals and 18 assists for 28 points in 19 games.
Amid Marner's stellar playoffs with Vegas, Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon spoke at media day before the Cup Final. There, he noted a key difference between Toronto and Vegas why Marner is having success.
"I think the change has helped him. I think our team is deeper and a better team than what he had played on in Toronto," McCrimmon said on June 1. "Not that Toronto didn't have real good teams. But you have to have that depth throughout your roster. Because to go through three rounds, or hopefully four rounds, everybody has to take their turn."
Marner's stellar playoff performance now has Vegas just two wins away from a Stanley Cup, which would be his first and the Golden Knights' second since joining the NHL in 2017-18.
Related: NHL Trade Deadline Literally Saved the Maple Leafs From Disaster
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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 8:17 AM.