Mitch Marner's teammates take aim at Leafs fans

Tomorrow night Mitch Marner will play for the Stanley Cup when his Vegas Golden Knights take on the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

It's been a long road to the top for Marner and, at times, it looked like he'd never reach the pinnacle of the sport. After numerous failed attempts at an extended playoff run with the Toronto Maple Leafs though, all it took was one season in Vegas to experience the greatest success of his NHL career.

Now, with his sights set on a Stanley Cup championship, Marner is opening up a bit and his teammates have got his back the entire way.

"As a teammate and a friend of his, and somebody that cares about him and his family, of course I do," teammate Jack Eichel said at Stanley Cup Final media day Monday. "I think the world of Mitch. Anybody that has negative or bad things to say about him, obviously I disagree with, because I think highly of him."

"Mitch has opened up to me about some of the things that he went through and I've opened up to him about some of the things I went through. I think it's probably good for both of us to have done that," Eichel said. "Mitch is a big boy. He's got some scar tissue to show for it. I don't like people saying bad things about him because I care about the guy."

Marner told reporters today that playing in Toronto and hearing constant criticism of his play became "a real mental grind" and affected him physically.

In Vegas, that doesn't exist and it has helped him reach a new level.

"I think our team is deeper and a better team than what he had played on in Toronto. Not that Toronto didn't have real good teams. But you have to have that depth throughout your roster, because everyone's going to take their turn," Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon said Monday. "Mitch is playing with tremendous confidence. He's really savoring the moment."

Marner echoed his boss' assessment of things and reiterated that the past is in the past and all he cares about now is the present moment.

"I'm not a guy that lives in the past," Marner said. "I'm in the present. I'm here in the moment. Like I said, I'm extremely excited to get going."