Mitch Marner named NHL Rookie of the month in January

Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski/USA TODAY SPORTS

It is a good time to be a Mitch Marner. Now an emerging star on his hometown team, it doesn’t get much better than this. Add a NHL rookie of the month honor to it all, you begin to see why so many are excited about the Leafs’ season.

Just how good of a month was it and is this just a prelude of things to come for him and the Leafs?

The diminutive forward had fifteen points in thirteen games and was an absolute threat every time he was on the ice. According to NHL.com, he edged out Sebastian Aho, Anthony Mantha and Patrik Laine for the honor. Not a bad list to beat out, right?

More impressive than anything else is his consistency throughout the year. He is in the top five of every single offensive rookie category, including assists, points, goals, game-winning goals, and shots. Meanwhile, he does this after three out of the four rookie of the month awards have been awarded to other Leafs’.

As the stretch run of the season approaches, the Leafs are going to need all hands on deck to ensure they make it into the playoffs. Marner was always in the team’s long-term plans but they weren’t expecting him to have such an impact this early. The schedule is getting more and more compact, Marner is proving himself to be invaluable and it’ll be fun to follow his journey along the way.

If he is even able to keep this up a tiny bit, the Leafs are going to be in absolutely perfect shape when it’s playoff time.