Mitch Marner

Last Season

Twenty-four goals and 56 assists in 81 games — 80 points, plus-17, at 19:57 a night with 24 penalty minutes.

His 738th career game and his 821st point. Five hundred and seventy-six career assists.

The Finesse Game

One of the two or three best passers in the sport. He holds the puck under pressure longer than anybody and the outlet arrives at a stick rather than at a place.

Two hundred and fifty-two unblocked attempts, 26 goals, median 31 feet with 31 per cent from inside twenty and 31 per cent from beyond forty. That is a perimeter chart from a player who has never been comfortable in the paint.

Fifty-six assists is the seventh season of fifty or more.

The Physical Game

Six foot even and 180 pounds, and he avoids contact as a matter of policy. Twenty-four penalty minutes.

He does not forecheck heavily, does not win a wall battle, and does not go to the net front. This has been the criticism for a decade and the counter-argument is on the next paragraph.

The Intangibles

Fifty-six point one per cent of the expected goals, 92nd percentile, and 54.2 per cent of the shot attempts, 87th, across 1,142 minutes, with the chances 48.5 to 38.0 in his favour.

Eleven points in his last ten, six of them goals.

He is 29, left Toronto after nine seasons of being blamed for their playoffs, and in his first year in Vegas posted eighty points on a club that was 53.4 per cent in expected goals. Toronto, meanwhile, finished with no skater above 48.9 per cent. That comparison is the most interesting thing in this edition.