Canucks: Nikolaj Ehlers' scoring stock rises as possible replacement for Brock Boeser
Nikolaj Ehlers believes he's a first-line NHL player.
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The speedy and quick-striking Winnipeg Jets winger proved that point by letting his play do the talking in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs on a second line with Vladislav Namestnikov and Cole Perfetti.
The unrestricted free agent also silenced his critics, who had every right to wonder if Ehlers could produce when it mattered most with just 14 career playoff points in 37 games. He responded this spring by striking for five goals in his last five games of the second round.
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While the pain of a 2-1 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday that kept the Jets from forcing Game 7 home ice in the riveting series will persist, it will eventually subside for Ehlers. And when it does, the reality of his value and options will come into greater focus.
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Ehlers, 29, will top a lot of wish lists for a winger would can play at heightened pace, drive the play and finish. The Vancouver Canucks, who had past interest, will be among the suitors because UFA Brock Boeser is going to test the market and there's a sizable top-six roster hole here to fill.
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Ehlers had a career-high 63 points (24-39) in 69 games this season and scored at least 20 goals in eight-straight campaigns. However, he has also been injury prone and that has kept him from being that consistent 30-goal guy. He had 28 goals in just 62 games in 2021-22 and 29 in a full season in 2017-18.
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Of course, his production takes us back to another curious Canucks draft decision in 2014. They selected Jake Virtanen sixth overall and passed on William Nylander (eighth) and Ehlers (ninth). And when Ehlers had 25 goals in his second season, and then 29 in his third, the Canucks took notice.
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Virtanen would struggle before hitting a career-high 18 goals in 2019-20. This was a Province critique when the Canucks committed to the winger: 'They added size and a budding power forward from Calgary (WHL). Aside from shoulder surgery, he's pure power and speed and those 45 goals (2013-14) look pretty good right now on a team starving for offence. Ranked first in physical play among North American prospects. Huge upside. Hopefully.'
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With the Canucks ranked 23rd offensively this season, they not only require bouncebacks from Nils Hoglander and Dakota Joshua, they need another scoring threat. Remove UFAs Boeser and Pius Suter, who had 25 goals apiece, and it's team leader Jake DeBrusk (28) as the lone 20-goal guy. Conor Garland and Kiefer Sherwood had 19 apiece.
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Edmonton Journal
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Mitch Marner's Maple Leafs breakup: How it got here and where it's going
Article content Not long after he wore the Maple Leafs' blue and white for the first time, Mitch Marner summed up his first National Hockey League experience. 'I thought I could have been a lot better, that's for sure,' Marner said late on the night of Sept. 22, 2015, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, having just finished playing in his first NHL pre-season game. 'It's the jitters I'm getting out of me right now. I can improve out there.' Article content Article content It would be another 12 1/2 months before Marner earned the opportunity with the Leafs, in games that mattered, to start making good on those thoughts. Nearly nine years beyond Marner's regular-season Leafs debut, the firm belief in every corner is that his tenure with Toronto is coming to an end. Simply put, the regular-season magic that Marner often put on display was not matched, certainly not commonly, when the annual Stanley Cup tournament got underway. HOW DID HIS NHL DEBUT GO? Within days of his skating in his pre-season debut with the Leafs nearly 10 years ago— and three months after Toronto picked him fourth overall in the 2015 NHL draft in Sunrise, Fla. — Marner was returned to the London Knights, deemed too green to make an impact in the NHL. At the age of 18, Marner enjoyed a dream season in what would be his final Ontario Hockey League year, becoming just the second player (Brad Richards in 2000 with Rimouski was the first) to win the Memorial Cup, the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy (Memorial Cup MVP), be named Canadian Hockey League player of the year, win league MVP honours, and win his league's playoff MVP award in the same season. No player has done it since. Article content There wasn't much doubt as to whether Marner would crack the Leafs roster coming out of training camp in 2016. Along with Auston Matthews and William Nylander, who played in 22 games with the Leafs in the previous season, Toronto's young core was set to start showing the city and the rest of the hockey world its collective potential. The pre-season games aside, Marner's real-life NHL debut isn't remembered by many people outside of his immediate family. That's not because of what Marner did or didn't do, though he didn't have a point in Ottawa against the Senators on Oct. 12, 2016, when the Leafs kicked off their regular season. It was all about Matthews, who didn't so much as overshadow everything else that night as much as he obliterated everything else: His four goals in his first game set the modern-day mark for an NHL debut and dominated hockey discussion in the days to come. Article content Peer a little closer at the game sheet from that night and see what Marner did. Skating on a line with Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk, Marner had six shots on goal and 11 attempts, and his two takeaways (along with Matthews, the most in the game on either team) served notice as to the cerebral defensive stalwart that Marner eventually would become. Marner's first NHL point — a goal — came in his home debut three nights later against the Boston Bruins. After taking a pass from Bozak in the neutral zone, Marner shot past the outstretched stick of future teammate Brandon Carlo (playing in his second NHL game) and beat Bruins goalie Anton Khudobin with a quick strike to the outside. Scored at 11:56 of first period, the goal stood as the winner in a 4-1 Leafs victory. WILL MARNER'S NO. 16 EVER BE RETIRED? Leafs royalty was in the building, then known as the Air Canada Centre, that night. Article content In one of the more momentous occasions during his now-completed time as Leafs president, Brendan Shanahan announced at a pre-game reception that all Leafs players with an honoured number were going to have them retired that evening. Among those on the ice for the ceremony were Dave Keon, Darryl Sittler, Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmour, George Armstrong, Johnny Bower, Red Kelly, Borje Salming and Johnny Bower. Whether you were in the crowd at the rink or watching at home, you might have wondered whether Marner, Matthews or Nylander would one day join that special group and gaze upward as his number was raised into the rafters. We suppose you could make an argument that it could happen for any of the three. Matthews and Nylander have multiple years remaining on their respective contracts and theoretically could one day help the Leafs win the Stanley Cup. Article content Do that and, considering where they already stand among Leafs franchise scoring leaders (Matthews is sixth, 14 points behind Marner, and Nylander ninth), we'll probably see Nos. 34 and 88 retired somewhere down the road. For Marner, though, any such recognition would have to be based on what he accomplished in the past nine regular seasons. We're not sure what he has done in the regular season would be enough. We speak in the past tense for a good reason. ANY CHANCE HE RE-SIGNS WITH LEAFS? With July 1 and NHL free agency creeping closer, there have not been serious contract talks between the Leafs and Marner's agent, Darren Ferris. It was Marner's choice to not hold discussions during the season and little has been discussed between the sides since the Leafs were eliminated by the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the second round. The Leafs will have the opportunity to make a pitch to Marner, but if they choose to do so, it might not make much of a difference. Article content Marner's next game at Scotiabank Arena — we're 99.99% confident in saying — will be in the uniform of the Leafs' opposition that night. Had Marner said at season's end that his priority was to re-sign with the Leafs, we would be in a different spot here. Marner hasn't told the Leafs he absolutely is not coming back to Toronto. But in having not talked contract with the Leafs, that's probably not necessary. On May 20, in the players' final media availability before scattering for the off-season, Marner said he had not yet given much thought to his hockey future. A year earlier, looking ahead to his contract season, Marner had a different tune, saying at the time 'it means the world' to be a Maple Leaf and ' we're looked upon kind of gods here, to be honest.' In fact, Marner's claim last month that he had not pondered what comes next for him was a stark departure from everything he had been saying for years — that he loved playing in his hometown and loved all that was part of being a Maple Leaf. Article content When general manager Brad Treliving said to media days later that a DNA change was needed in the group, it didn't require the knowledge of a hockey expert to figure that Marner would have to be part of that equation. Just Marner's luck, too: Considering the failure of the core to produce anything resembling a healthy run in any recent playoff year, it could have been the deletion of Matthews or Nylander from the roster that might result in a DNA change. It's Marner's contract that is expiring, however. How the Leafs undergo a necessary DNA remodelling while keeping with Matthews and Nylander is in question. Apparently, a DNA change does not apply to John Tavares, whom the Leafs wish to re-sign before he hits free agency on the first of July. WHAT WENT WRONG IN THE PLAYOFFS? Why it is that the Leafs and Marner are well down the path to divorce isn't because of mismanagement or failure on the part of the team to give Marner everything he required to succeed, which is no different than any other player. Article content The inability of Marner to match regular-season stardom and dominance with what he did in the playoffs is why we're here. Marner nailed it when he said after that first pre-season game years ago that he 'can improve out there.' In the seasons that followed once his Leafs career got underway, he did improve. In a big way. Only Mats Sundin, Sittler, Keon and Salming recorded more points for Toronto than the 741 amassed by Marner. After knocking on the 100-point door — he had 99 points in 2022-23 and 97 in the season previous — Marner finally reached the milestone this past April 15, when he recorded his 100th point in a Leafs win in Buffalo against the Sabres. A couple of assists in the regular-season finale against the Detroit Red Wings two nights later at Scotiabank Arena later brought Marner to 102 points. As Marner often went about bringing fans out of their seats on the offensive side, he developed into a fine defensive player during his Leafs tenure, putting himself into the upper echelon of 200-foot forwards in the NHL. Article content Following each of the past seven seasons, Marner has factored in the Selke Trophy voting, finishing as high as third in 2022-23. This past season, he was seventh in Selke voting, done by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. His smarts when he doesn't have the puck have few equals. Marner led NHL forwards in takeaways this past season and he led the entire league in that category two years ago. The superiority never has translated into the post-season. It's not a high-stakes, high-pressure issue, either: Recall Marner scoring for Canada in overtime against Sweden in the 4 Nations Face-Off in February before setting up Connor McDavid for the overtime winner in the championship game against the United States. Generally, players who wilt under the spotlight can't make those plays. They're not even on the team. Interestingly, Marner was not among Canada's initial six players announced on Monday for the 2026 Winter Olympics, despite his contributions at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Article content You're not going to argue with the choices of forwards Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid and defenceman Cale Makar. As for perhaps wondering about forwards Brayden Point and Sam Reinhart, each has the experience of winning the Cup. Marner does not. IS THE GAME 7 JINX SENDING HIM PACKING? For Leafs Nation, frustration amassed year after year in the playoffs in regard to the lack of production from Marner, Matthews and Nylander. Marner, specifically, has 63 points (13 goals and 50 assists) in 70 Stanley Cup playoff games. In six Game 7 losses, Marner has contributed a total of two assists and one of those came in the first one, in 2018 against the Bruins. In Game 7s, Matthews has three assists while Nylander has two goals and two assists. It has become habitual for the Leafs, after their last game, to talk about how the experience would make them better, if not harden them, for the next occasion they found themselves in a tight playoff spot. But even in 2023 and this past spring, the two times that the Leafs happened to advance to the second round, carrying success any further proved to be an insurmountable challenge. Article content Two years ago, it was a five-game crumble against the Panthers; this year, it boiled down to Games 5 and 7 versus the Panthers, when the Leafs had their two worst playoff outings in the Marner/Matthews/Nylander era. The failure on the part of the Leafs' stars has been collective. In Marner's case, a salary with an average annual value of $10.9 million US for the past six years didn't fetch anything close to a satisfactory post-season return. SHOULD MARNER HAVE WAIVED NO-TRADE? There has been the perception that what happened at the trade deadline in March might have ruffled Marner's feathers to the point that there was no way he was going to re-sign in Toronto. We're not sure his thinking was that drastic, but Marner wasn't thrilled when Treliving asked him to waive his no-move clause to facilitate a trade that would have resulted in Mikko Rantanen becoming a Maple Leaf. Article content Marner's camp wasn't happy about it. Treliving had to take his shot, though, especially with a player who didn't have any interest in negotiating during the season, not that it was mandatory for Marner to do so. And while Treliving did look into trading Marner last summer before the no-move kicked in, he did say in his post-deadline availability several months ago that 'we're aligned with Mitch' and 'we want Mitch here for a long time.' Marner, of course, declined. For those who have the idea that Marner owed it to the Leafs to waive, please produce the clause in his contract that required him to relinquish his no-move clause. Marner owed the team nothing. We'll never know what would have happened had Marner said yes and Rantanen became a Leaf and not a member of the Dallas Stars. There's a conundrum with Marner, if you're one of those people who think the Leafs should do all they can to re-sign him. Article content You can't disregard the failure on his part to be a difference-maker in the playoffs. But you also know that, without what Marner has done in the regular season, the Leafs' potential for what they could accomplish in the playoffs would take a hit. It just so happens, too, that Marner is about to go to market in a year in which the free-agent pool is not strong. With Rantanen having signed for the long term in Dallas, Marner stands alone in free agency. Even if Treliving was able to sign players who could significantly alter the Leafs' DNA — Sam Bennett or Brad Marchand, for example — there's no one available who will provide the offence that Marner does. And how will it impact the production of Matthews if Marner is gone? DOES HE DESERVE BETTER FROM FANS? This conversation would be a lot different if the Leafs genuinely had arrived at the Cup doorstep in recent years. Article content If the Leafs won some of those Game 7s, had advanced to the Eastern Conference if not the Cup final, and been clearly on the verge of ending the 1967 drought, a lot of these words would not have been written. That's not what has taken place. The Leafs have been just another team in the playoffs that can't get it together. They're not close to winning. The electrifying, intense final between the Panthers and Edmonton Oilers was a reminder of the lengths that remain between the Leafs and the Cup. Having said this, Marner hasn't deserved some of the public backlash that has resulted. When it has seeped into his private life, whether it has been the publication of his home address on social media (since removed) or other incidents of harassment, it has gone too far and is something no professional athlete should have to endure. It has weighed heavily into his decision to, in all likelihood, sign elsewhere. As a lifelong Maple Leafs fan, Marner undoubtedly would have had a recurring dream as he grew up: Hoisting the Cup while wearing the blue and white of his favourite Original Six hockey team. Maybe, perhaps, after scoring in overtime of Game 7. That wish became more focused when Mark Hunter, then an interim GM with the Leafs along with Kyle Dubas, stepped to the podium at the 2015 draft and said in making the Toronto pick, 'I'm proud to announce, from the London Knights, Mitch Marner.' If, in the years that followed, you glanced only at Marner's regular-season statistics, you wouldn't have been at fault to assume that post-season achievements, individually for Marner and for the team, would have resulted. That's not what happened. And now, we are in the midst of the final days of Marner's time with the Maple Leafs. For the kid from Thornhill, this is not how it was supposed to end. Article content Latest National Stories
National Post
3 hours ago
- National Post
Mitch Marner's Maple Leafs breakup: How it got here and where it's going
Not long after he wore the Maple Leafs' blue and white for the first time, Mitch Marner summed up his first National Hockey League experience. Article content 'I thought I could have been a lot better, that's for sure,' Marner said late on the night of Sept. 22, 2015, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, having just finished playing in his first NHL pre-season game. 'It's the jitters I'm getting out of me right now. I can improve out there.' Article content Article content Article content It would be another 12 1/2 months before Marner earned the opportunity with the Leafs, in games that mattered, to start making good on those thoughts. Article content Nearly nine years beyond Marner's regular-season Leafs debut, the firm belief in every corner is that his tenure with Toronto is coming to an end. Article content Simply put, the regular-season magic that Marner often put on display was not matched, certainly not commonly, when the annual Stanley Cup tournament got underway. Article content HOW DID HIS NHL DEBUT GO? Article content Within days of his skating in his pre-season debut with the Leafs nearly 10 years ago— and three months after Toronto picked him fourth overall in the 2015 NHL draft in Sunrise, Fla. — Marner was returned to the London Knights, deemed too green to make an impact in the NHL. Article content At the age of 18, Marner enjoyed a dream season in what would be his final Ontario Hockey League year, becoming just the second player (Brad Richards in 2000 with Rimouski was the first) to win the Memorial Cup, the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy (Memorial Cup MVP), be named Canadian Hockey League player of the year, win league MVP honours, and win his league's playoff MVP award in the same season. No player has done it since. Article content There wasn't much doubt as to whether Marner would crack the Leafs roster coming out of training camp in 2016. Along with Auston Matthews and William Nylander, who played in 22 games with the Leafs in the previous season, Toronto's young core was set to start showing the city and the rest of the hockey world its collective potential. Article content Article content The pre-season games aside, Marner's real-life NHL debut isn't remembered by many people outside of his immediate family. That's not because of what Marner did or didn't do, though he didn't have a point in Ottawa against the Senators on Oct. 12, 2016, when the Leafs kicked off their regular season. Article content Peer a little closer at the game sheet from that night and see what Marner did. Skating on a line with Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk, Marner had six shots on goal and 11 attempts, and his two takeaways (along with Matthews, the most in the game on either team) served notice as to the cerebral defensive stalwart that Marner eventually would become.
