The Vegas Golden Knights made a splash this offseason, pulling off a sign-and-trade for Mitch Marner.
Marner was the top free agent available, and he’ll make a major impact on the Golden Knights roster. One player who’s excited to play alongside Marner is Jack Eichel, who says adding Marner is a ‘great addition’ to the team and locker room.
“It’s a great addition for our team, of course,” Eichel said. “I mean, he’s a world-class player, right? He’s one of the best in the world, and for us to be able to add him, yeah, it’s awesome.
“The last two years we’ve fallen short,” Eichel added. “We’ve felt like we had a better team than obviously we did because we didn’t get the job done, so credit to the management and the organization for going out and getting somebody like Mitch Marner and getting him to join the team. He’s obviously going to help us immensely. I think they made a few other tweaks to the roster that will help us as well, so really excited.”
Marner signed an eight-year, $96 million deal this offseason to play on Vegas’ top line and add more offense to the roster.
Marner is coming off his first 100-point season as he recorded 27 goals and 75 assists for 102 points in 81 games.
Golden Knights GM Expects Marner to Fit in Perfectly
Not only is Eichel excited to play alongside Marner, but Vegas’ general manager, Kelly McCrimmon, believes Marner will be a perfect locker room fit.
McCrimmon thinks Marner will mesh well in the room and only enhance the great culture the team has.
“We always say about our culture: ‘Don’t let it slip. Don’t let it slip,'” McCrimmon said. “It takes a long time to build a great culture; you can lose it in a hurry. So I think that our guys really perpetuate that. I think he’s going to fit into that and flourish. I really believe he will.”
Although Vegas has been one of the top teams for years, the Golden Knights have fallen short in the playoffs, and McCrimmon says everyone wants that to change.
“We put a lot of stock in playoffs,” McCrimmon said. “I think that there’s some things we want to change maybe somewhat subtly, maybe not even that noticeable to a fan. But we’re not going to go away from a lot of the things that worked really well for us last year.”
The Golden Knights finished last season third in the NHL in points.
Marner Wanted a Fresh Start With the Golden Knights
After the Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated from the playoffs, Marner began thinking about his future.
Marner ended up realizing he needed a fresh start, which is why he wanted to go to Vegas.
“We just decided it was time for a new chapter,” Marner said to TSN. “We loved being in Toronto full time and being close to family and friends. But we just thought it was time for a new chapter in life, and having Miles, our son, we wanted to look at other options and see what was out there. We found one we really liked.”
Marner was selected fourth overall by the Maple Leafs in the 2015 NHL Draft.
Jack Eichel Drops 2-Word Comment on Marner’s Fit With Golden Knights