You would think the expectations that come with being a top draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs are tough enough without comparisons to Hockey Hall of Famer Doug Gilmour being added to the mix.

But Marner, who was selected by Toronto with the No. 4 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, embraces being likened to Gilmour. He even wore the former Maple Leafs center's No. 93 while playing for London of the Ontario Hockey League.

Marner made the NHL All-Rookie team in 2016-17 after finishing with 61 points (19 goals, 42 assists) in 77 games and helping the Maple Leafs qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2013. He was even better in 2017-18 with 69 points (22 goals, 47 assists), again helping Toronto advance to the postseason, then broke out in 2018-19 with NHL career highs of 26 goals, 68 assists, 94 points and a plus-22 rating. Despite an ankle injury early in the 2019-20 season, Marner's 47 points (13 goals, 34 assists) in 38 games earned him a trip to the 2020 NHL All-Star Game and finished the season with 67 points (16 goals, 51 assists) in 59 games.

With the NHL back to 82 games for the 2021-22 season, Marner had 97 points (35 goals, 62 assists) in 72 games, joining Auston Matthews and Michael Bunting to form one of the best lines in the NHL and help the Maple Leafs set team records in wins (50) and points (106).

Like Gilmour, Marner (6 foot, 175 pounds) is hardly imposing physically, but he compensates for his lack of size with his speed, passing ability, creativity, feistiness and nose for the net. He proved talented enough as a teenager to be offered a hockey scholarship by the University of Michigan, though he turned it down to play for London.

He continued to impress there, finishing second among OHL rookies in scoring in 2013-14 with 59 points (13 goals, 46 assists). In 2015-16 he scored 39 goals and 116 points (his second straight 100-plus point season) to help London win the Memorial Cup.

Marner had 44 points in 18 playoff games and was named the 2016 Canadian Hockey League Player of the Year. He had finished second in the OHL scoring race in 2014-15 with 126 points.

Marner played for Canada at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship, tying for the team lead with six points (four goals). He led Canada in scoring (two goals, seven points) and helped win a gold medal at the 2014 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup.

Marner's breakthrough NHL season arrived in 2018-19, when he scored 94 points (26 goals, 68 assists), the second consecutive season he played all 82 regular-season games. He became the second player from the 2015 NHL Draft to score 400 points, joining Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, with a goal and two assists in a 6-2 win against the Seattle Kraken on Feb. 14, 2022.

On Dec. 3, 2022, Marner scored two goals to extend his point streak to a Maple Leafs record 19 games, breaking the mark he shared with Darryl Sittler (1977-78) and Eddie Olczyk (1989-90). The run ended at 23 games (32 points; 11 goals, 21 assists) in a 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Dec. 15. It was the third-longest by an active player in the NHL behind Patrick Kane's 26 straight in 2014-15 and Sidney Crosby's 25-game streak in 2010-11.

Marner reached the 500-point milestone in his 467th game, second-fewest in Maple Leafs history (Matthews, 445), during a 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 7, 2023. He set a team-record 20-game home point streak from Nov. 2, 2022 to Jan. 20, 2023. Marner finished the season with an NHL career high of 99 points (30 goals, 69 points) in 80 games while averaging 21:17 of ice time, second on the Maple Leafs to defenseman Morgan Rielly (21:42), and his 2:17 per game while short-handed was second among Toronto forwards (David Kampf, 2:38). He led Maple Leafs forwards with 104 takeaways and his 45 blocked shots were third, earning him his first nomination for the Selke Award, given annually to the forward voted best to excel in the defensive aspects of the game as voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association.

NOTES & TRANSACTIONS

• OHL First All-Star Team (2015, 2016)
• OHL Playoff MVP (2016)
• NHL All-Rookie Team (2017)
• Played in NHL All-Star Game (2020, 2023)
• NHL First All-Star Team (2021, 2022)