'Can't complain; I'm liking life': Mitch Marner begins his Vegas era

SUMMERLIN, Nevada -- Enter the Vegas Golden Knights signifier installation and you're met by a barrage of squad logos, mascot drawings and adjacent a faux brick-wall backdrop to the crystal expanse reflecting the club's established -- and beloved -- "Fortress" theme.

It's the squad store, though, that's putting the team's contiguous -- and aboriginal -- connected afloat display. Amid a enactment of VGK-branded hoodies and jackets lined up outside, there's lone 1 player's jersey successful sight: Mitch Marner's.

Hardly a astonishing choice, fixed that Marner is already the speech of the town.

"You heard of this caller feline they got?" the taxi operator asks erstwhile helium sees that the Golden Knights' arena is the destination. "Mitch Marner. He's expected to beryllium beauteous good."

The winger's estimation intelligibly preceded him to the desert. At this point, Marner had yet to adjacent suit up successful 1 of Vegas' preseason games but determination was anticipation to spot him successful enactment -- oregon adjacent get a glimpse of him astatine the rink.

Fans successful Marner sweaters crowded the level to ticker 1 of Vegas' greeting skates and spot him flanking caller linemates Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev. Afterward, they waited for him connected the sidewalk extracurricular -- 1 instrumentality holding a hand-painted representation they hoped he'd spot and motion -- to amusement their enthusiasm implicit the accomplishment of Vegas' projected caller star.

The hype is befitting of Marner's departure from his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs to articulation the Golden Knights successful a sign-and-trade deal culminating with the signing of a monolithic eight-year, $96 cardinal declaration connected June 30. At the time, Marner was a pending unrestricted escaped cause who, arsenic the 2024-25 play wore on, appeared progressively improbable to re-sign successful Toronto, for reasons that Marner aboriginal revealed included expanding harassment toward his household from section fans. So, the Leafs recovered a suitor successful Vegas and received extent guardant Nicolas Roy successful instrumentality for their 102-point contributor.

A pugnacious stroke for Toronto? Absolutely. But Marner seemingly has nary regrets arsenic helium embarks connected this adjacent chapter.

"Can't complain; I'm liking life," Marner told ESPN successful September. "It's been good. There is bully weather, and nary postulation has been a bully small dainty [coming from Toronto]. I've had a batch of emotion shown to [my family] truthful acold done our clip here, which has been amazing. A batch of excited fans. I privation to spell retired determination and bash my happening and effort to conscionable support doing what I've been doing the past years and contributing to assistance the squad triumph games."

Golden Knights wide manager Kelly McCrimmon stake large connected Marner being capable to bash conscionable that. He'd been eyeing the 28-year-old since the NHL's commercialized deadline successful March, calling him an "elite playmaker and tremendous passer" who is expected to elevate Vegas' top-line attack.

That benignant of endowment doesn't travel cheap, though, and it wasn't until the Golden Knights enactment defenseman Alex Pietrangelo connected semipermanent injured reserve with a potentially career-ending limb issue that Vegas had capable headdress abstraction to marque Marner 1 of the highest-paid players successful the league.

Marner has the regular-season résumé to backmost up that benignant of fiscal commitment. Since entering the league successful 2016-17, Marner has recorded 520 assists (fifth astir among each NHL players) and 741 points (eighth most). But translating that occurrence into the postseason has been a antithetic story, astatine slightest successful Toronto. And that's lone 1 communicative Marner volition person to flooded if he's to fulfill the lofty expectations successful Vegas.

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