Mitch Marner wins CHL Player of the Year, running out of room in trophy case

Sometimes, a player wins so many awards that you lose count and the excitement kind of tapers off. I think we’re starting to get there with Mitch Marner, but if nothing else, bragging rights will keep it interesting.

There’s not really much else left to be said about Marner’s year. The 19-year-old forward scored 39 goals and added 77 assists in 57 games, earning himself OHL MVP honours. He moved the performance up another needle come playoff time, scoring 16 goals and 28 assists in 18 games in a run where the London Knights clearly dominated.

Now, with the Memorial Cup Final coming up tomorrow, Marner is the favourite to be the named MVP in that tournament as well. He has 2 goals and 11 assists in 3 games, in which he and his teammates appear to be playing something closer to early-morning shinny than a competitive tournament. Unless Christian Dvorak greatly outperforms him or a Rouyn-Noranda player has one of the greatest games in junior history to lead his team to an upset.

For those counting, a player has only won all four trophies (league MVP, league playoff MVP, CHL MVP, and Memorial Cup MVP) once in the history of the CHL. That player was Brad Richards, who was playing in his Draft+2 season. It is worth noting, though, that Corey Perry (Draft+2) and Sidney Crosby (Draft) cancelled each other out in 2004/05; both destroyed their leagues, Perry won Memorial Cup MVP and Crosby won CHL MVP.

Needless to say, if Marner’s range moving forward is somewhere between Brad Richards (a Conn Smythe winner and star player for a solid decade) and Sidney Crosby (a generation talent who likely ends up as a Top 5-10 player of all time), then the Leafs are laughing all the way to the bank.