Marner had a great 2023-24 season, scoring 26 goals and 85 points in 69 games and was on pace for 100+ points for his third consecutive season. Sadly for Marner, “on pace” doesn’t mean he’s a century point scorer, as he’s fallen just short of the mark several times in his career, hitting 99 points in 2022-23, 97 points in 72 games during the 2021-22 season, and 94 points in 2018-19.

It also doesn’t help that Marner didn’t have a great playoff series in 2024. He scored a goal and three points in what was his worst scoring performance in eight postseasons. Interestingly, his three goals and 14 points in the 2023 postseason were his best performance.

With all that being said, it’s pretty clear that the Leafs need to make a shakeup, especially given how weak their defence core is aside from Morgan Rielly. Marner has a full no-move clause and will make $10.903-million until the end of next season.

Utah surveying team names

It seems like the recently moved Arizona Coyotes will go by “Utah” on their jerseys for the 2024-25 season. However, owner Ryan Smith released a poll with 20 names for the team, who’ll rebrand before the 2025-26 season.

Below are the names that could be chosen:

Utah Blast

Utah Powder

Utah Mammoth

Utah Mountaineers

Utah Black Diamonds

Utah Swarm

Utah Yeti

Utah Caribou

Utah Frost

Utah Venom

Utah Squall

Utah Outlaws

Utah Hive

Utah Freeze

Utah Fury

Utah HC

Utah Glaciers

Utah Canyons

Utah Blizzard

Utah Ice

My favourite is Utah Hockey Club, which reminds me of traditional European Football clubs, simple yet classy. If you exclude that and make me choose a traditional North American name, the best option here is “Outlaws.”

As long as they aren’t named the “Utah Glaciers” or “Utah Canyons”, that’s fine with me.

Tkachuk named captain of Team USA

The IIHF World Championship starts on Friday, and Team USA has announced its leadership group. Ottawa Senators forward Brady Tkachuk gets the C, while the alternate captains will be New York Islanders forward Brock Nelson, Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Seth Jones, and Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman Zach Werenski.

This isn’t the first team Tkachuk has been the captain of, as the 24-year-old is the current captain of the Ottawa Senators, scoring a career-high 37 goals along with 74 points, leading the team in both categories.

The United States will open their season against Team Sweden on Friday in Group B action. Their group features Germany, Slovakia, France, Poland, Kazakhstan, and Latvia, with the latter defeating the United States in the Bronze medal game.