Red Wings fans have been very split on the prospect of getting Mitch Marner in free agency, and I can't say I blame them too much.
Many are worried about how he plays in the playoffs when the games get tough. What many of these critics miss is that he was a point per game in the 2024-25 playoffs and hit 102 points in 81 games this season, all without hitting the 30-goal mark. Though he is capable of scoring goals, too.
His goal total can be explained by the fact that he's a playmaker first. In fact, I would say that Marner is the best playmaker in the league, not named Patrick Kane. Though he's not far off from Kane in the first place.
Not only would he fill a massive hole in the Red Wings' top six, but he would also significantly help the penalty kill that's in need of immediate surgery. Especially after coming off a season when the team just narrowly missed being the worst in NHL history.
Is Marner the piece the Red Wings have been looking for?
The one thing that every Red Wings fan, insider, analyst, and hockey talking head has consistently said is that the Red Wings need and have needed a superstar for years. It's something that the team hasn't had since the days of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Nicklas Lidstrom.
While guys like Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider are well on their way to becoming superstars, that takes time to develop. If the team wants to play in the playoffs sooner rather than later, what they need right now is an established superstar, not one that could be one in two or three years from now.
While it's true that Marner didn't record a point in the last three games of the Maple Leafs' seven-game series against the Florida Panthers, neither did his teammates. And as a playmaker, your points are primarily dictated by your linemates being able to score once you get them the puck. So it's entirely reasonable to assume that had the rest of his linemates not vanished in those games, Marner likely also would've had more points.
Bottom line is that a player as good as Marner rarely, if ever, makes it to free agency, and not wanting him on the team for an insanely specific stat like how many points he has in the same exact games that the rest of his team disappears is a moot point, since the Red Wings haven't been in the playoffs for almost 10 years. Adding Marner gives you the best shot at making the playoffs, and then we can cross the bridge of how he performs when we reach that point.