Kirkell: Mitch Marner & Jack Eichel Form Storybook Revenge Duo

It’s official: Mitch Marner is a Vegas Golden Knight.

The highly drafted superstar was once hailed as the potential savior of the franchise by Toronto Maple Leafs fans. Now, he’ll get a fresh start in Sin City after the same fans who once chanted his name turned on him with pitchforks and torches.

Now, where have I heard that one before?

The career arc of Mitch Marner bears a striking resemblance to that of Jack Eichel. 

Jack Eichel, drafted second overall in 2015, was supposed to lead the Buffalo Sabres back to the promised land. Instead, the team that drafted him sent him into exile. In his case, of course, it occurred after a debilitating neck injury. 

Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres disagreed on how to treat the injury. Eichel chose bodily autonomy; the Sabres ultimately stripped him of his captaincy and sent him packing. On his way out, fans and media members alike couldn’t resist getting parting shots in and blamed Eichel for Buffalo’s woes. They called him a locker room cancer and a career loser. 

Marner’s situation, although less tragic, isn’t so dissimilar to Eichel’s. 

The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted the hometown winger fourth overall in 2015. The Leafs, who haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967, seemed destined for glory. Instead, they ran the 102-point Selke finalist out of town after a decade of failure. 

Like Eichel in Buffalo, Mitch Marner is now public enemy number one in Toronto. Fans booed him off the ice during his last shift as a Maple Leaf. And what’s the media saying about him? Just log onto Twitter. 

But just ask Jack Eichel— winning is the best response. He exacted his revenge on the naysayers in 2023, leading the Golden Knights on a surgical run to the Stanley Cup Finals. There, they dispatched the Florida Panthers in five games. 

Eichel’s was an excellent story: in his first postseason appearance, he proved everyone wrong. With this trade, Kelly McCrimmon signed off on the sequel, allowing Marner the opportunity to do the exact same thing. 

As for the story, if you’ve ever taken any kind of creative writing class, odds are you’re familiar with Freytag’s Pyramid. 

In this case, the exposition was a methodical elimination at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers. At the moment, that series was a story in itself. Looking back? A five-game series in which the Golden Knights failed to score in the final two games is merely the setup for something much, much greater.

Mere days after the Maple Leafs lost in game seven of the second round, the outline truly began to take shape. And, in keeping pace with the Odyssey-esque epic, the rising action lasted over a month.

And then, the climax.

Don’t pretend like you didn’t see it coming. For as long as they’ve been in the league, the Vegas Golden Knights have been inevitable. They want Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Tomáš Hertl, Noah Hanifin, and Alex Pietrangelo? You better believe they’re getting them all.

Why should Marner be any different?

What the Golden Knights want, the Golden Knights get.

For a lesser team, simply acquiring Mitch Marner would be enough. But the Vegas Golden Knights are most teams. No, for the Golden Knights, the true climax will be Mitch Marner holding the Stanley Cup aloft. And where better to do it than on the most hated team in the league?

Hey— it happened once before.

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