At 39 years of age, Patrick Marleau has played in his share of NHL games. With 1,635 contests under his belt, Marleau has seen more than most players in the game’s history and with 548 goals, he understands what’s required to make it. With only years left in his career, he’s now trying to pass on his knowledge to teammate Mitch Marner.
The two had a one-on-one conversation in Leaf to Leaf: Marner’s Personal Portrait and offered the best piece of advice to one another for the rest of their respective careers. Both players really didn’t offer anything too in-depth, as Marleau told his 21-year-old buddy to just recognize how good he is and what he can become in the league. Marner basically said the same thing and to be honest, it made for a surprisingly emotional moment.
You might kind of just want to cry after watching it.
If you didn’t know any better you’d probably think this was a father and son sharing life lessons with one another, which would actually make sense considering Mitch is closer in age to Marleau’s kids. Speaking of Marleau’s kids… it’s evident at this point that Marner is close with both Patrick and the rest of his family. Well, at least based on this photo of them all singing ‘YMCA’ together in the car.
Auston Matthews also seems to be an honoourary Marleau from the looks of it.
The question now becomes how much longer the two will remain teammates. Marleau has just one year remaining on his three-year, $18.750 million contract while Marner has yet to sign an extension with Toronto heading into this summer's restricted free agency period. In the meantime, he’d be wise to continue to soak up as much knowledge that he can from his older teammate.
(H/T Toronto Maple Leafs)
