Mitch Marner winning the Cup would prove the Maple Leafs were one player away from the Stanley Cup
Photo credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
Mitch Marner being a series away from the Stanley Cup is a glimpse into what could have been for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Vegas Golden Knights took the first game of the Western Conference Finals against the Colorado Avalanche 4-2, setting former Leaf Mitch Marner three wins away from making his first Stanley Cup final.
With Vegas, Marner has already progressed further with the Knights than he did as a member of Toronto, while being a leader in the postseason.
Marner leads all playoff scorers with 19 points in 13 games, having shredded nearly a decade of struggles in Toronto, and the perception of not being built for playoff hockey.
But Marner isn't doing things alone, having a team set up quite similarly to Toronto, yet the results have been far different between the two teams.
Toronto was one of three finalists for Alex Pietrangelo in 2020 but the flat cap forced them to settle for TJ Brodie instead
One of the key Vegas players, Alex Pietrangelo, was almost a Toronto Maple Leaf, with the team having been a frontrunner for him back in 2020.
Toronto and Vegas were seen as the two leading candidates for Pietrangelo, who had 52 points and was a year back from a cup win with St. Louis in 2019.
The Leafs, however, had been unable to afford what Pietrangelo had desired on his next contract. That financial decision led them to pivot to another defenseman in T.J. Brodie instead.
The cap, which was projected to go up, was frozen at $81.5M due to the impacts of COVID-19, leading to Toronto choosing between Pietrangelo and the cheaper Brodie. With four max-money forwards already on the books, the Leafs could not fit Pietrangelo's ultimate $8.8M contract.
Pietrangelo won a cup in Vegas in 2023, and continues to be a reliable top-four D, while Brodie spent four unimpressive seasons with Toronto before leaving for Chicago. Brodie did not play in the NHL last season.
The Leafs blueline has struggled over the years to produce out of the blueline, but Pietrangelo on Toronto's top-four could have been a piece that not only reversed Toronto's misfortunes, but brought them to where Vegas is now.
Pietrangelo signed with Vegas and won a Stanley Cup there and now Mitch Marner is chasing one with the same team
Alex Pietrangelo could have been a major piece for the Leafs playoff runs of the early 2020's, instead he and Marner may bring home the cup in Vegas instead.
Vegas is far from the expansion team that made the finals in their first year, but are still very much the misfit roster it was in its inaugural season in some ways.
The Knights, like Toronto, have had most of their success come from their top forwards with Marner, Jack Eichel, and Mark Stone, but have incorporated youth depth such as Pavel Dorofeyev, Braeden Bowman, & Kaedan Korczak in a way Toronto never did.
Vegas has also gotten a surprise in net with Carter Hart, signed as a mid season acquisition after two years away from the NHL, playing like the goalie he was once hyped up to be when he entered the league, solving the team's question in net.
In a way, the biggest difference between the two squads and their success may lie with Marner himself, with him having taken a massive jump in his first season with Vegas.
Toronto could have been one piece away from success that could have seen them legitimate cup contenders, but now are back at square one watching their former player only a few games away from ultimate success.
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