Mitch Marner Offers Golden Knights Power Play A Potential Exciting New Option

Most of the discussion surrounding Mitch Marner’s arrival in Vegas has been about where he may play in the lineup. Will Bruce Cassidy put him with Jack Eichel? Will he load up the top line with Marner and Mark Stone? Or does he opt for balance and pair Marner with William Karlsson or Tomas Hertl.

Getting it correct will be key in getting Marner up and running with his new teammates. There’s another aspect of the game that may be just as important, though. Last year, 33 of Marner’s 102 points came on the power play, or just about one-third. His power play prowess has been consistent in Toronto, having posted at least 25 points on the man-advantage in each of the last four seasons.

However, the Golden Knights’ power play does not need fixing. The unit finished the regular season at a sizzling 28.3%, the best in franchise history by a wide margin and the 2nd best in the NHL. It slowed down a bit in the playoffs to 25.8% but still ranked 4th of the 16 playoff participants.

The unit was largely unchanged for most of the season a year ago. Jack Eichel and Mark Stone manned the right-hand side and would dominate possession while Shea Theodore handled the blue line, Pavel Dorofeyev posted up on the left waiting for one-timers, and Tomas Hertl used his mega frame to carve out space in the bumper.

So, finding a place for Marner is not going to be easy.

During his tenure in Toronto, most of Marner’s power play time was spent in the same position Eichel plays on the VGK power play. As a right-hand shot, he’s excellent at distributing from the half-wall, just like Eichel. However, he also had some experience in another spot on the power play, one probably a bit more unexpected.

Late in the season and into the playoffs last year, as well as for a decent stretch in 2023, Marner played the “defenseman” role in a five-forward power play, and on many occasions, it went extremely well. He’s excellent at walking the blue line with the puck in the offensive zone, he has a knack for getting pucks through on wrist shots from the point, and amazingly for a winger, he’s solid tracking back defensively when plays break down. Don’t believe me, watch…

Mitch Marner loved playing defense as a kid and contemplated playing the position at a competitive level but his level of skating pushed against his decision to put playing on the back end as his focus. “I trained a lot with backward skating and stuff like that but I was better at forward and skating forward than I was backwards,” the Toronto Maple Leafs forward recalled. “So that’s kind of how ultimately that decision was made.” Well into his seventh season in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Marner has been called upon at times to play defense in certain situations. -David Alter on TheHockeyNews.com

Theodore has always been quite good on the power play, but Marner as part of a five-forward look in Vegas sounds unbelievably deadly. Just consider this look…

Stone
Eichel-Hertl-Dorofeyev
Marner

Three right-handed sticks will allow for plenty of interchange, while Dorofeyev will likely get lost in the left circle waiting to unleash his deadly slapper. Unlike most five-forward looks where someone is clearly playing out of position, Marner has plenty of experience and success in arguably the most important position on the power play.

This would also open the door for Cassidy to deploy a second until with both Theodore and Hanifin, allowing him a full defensive pair when the power play ends, something he has mentioned as a necessity on multiple occasions.

Marner’s ability to play along the blue line on the power play gives Cassidy an elite new option to his already stellar power play. 28.3% is the new bar for the Golden Knights to clear to set the franchise record once again in 2025-26. With Marner and a five-forward unit leading the charge, it doesn’t seem out of the question at all.

**Stick taps to Everett from the SinBin Discord for the video clips.**