You’re guaranteed, at least twice every practice, to hear Mitch Marner make his presence felt.

It could be the occasional jab at one of his fellow skaters. It could be a noticeable yell each time he scores on one of the goalies, making sure they hear him loud and clear.

Marner made it clear from his first ever with the Vegas Golden Knights back in September. He was going to chirp. He was going to be loud on occasion.

Outside of that, it was a quiet season for Marner. He’s mostly reserved, maybe still keeping his guard up in the locker room after years of Toronto-based microphones and cameras in his face.

Marner finished with 80 points — a team-high 22 of them coming after the Olympic break — while spending the second half of the year playing center for the first extended time of his NHL career.

“It’s always a challenge to get to the playoffs,” Marner said. “You make it in, and then the real work begins. I’m just excited to get in there with this group.”

The moment Marner put pen to paper on that eight-year, $96 million contract to make him the richest free agent acquisition in franchise history, September to April wasn’t going to matter.

He’s been a 100-point scorer. He’s hit the 80-point mark six times as of this season. Only Connor McDavid has put up more points than Marner’s 821 in his 738-game career among the 2015 draft class. He’s been among the league’s elite in the regular season.

Changing the narrative

But the playoffs are here. And with that comes the label that followed Marner’s near-entire tenure in Toronto, and one he looks to shake in his first postseason with the Knights.

In 70 career playoff games, Marner has 13 goals and 63 points. Four times in the playoffs has he been a point-per-game player. He’s never advanced beyond the second round, and he made it that far twice with the Maple Leafs.

Then there’s the claim that Marner hasn’t performed when a series is at its apex. In Games 5-7 of a playoff series from 2019-25, Marner has no goals and seven assists.

Marner got the brunt of the blame for Toronto’s shortcomings, largely because he was the hometown kid. The story wrote itself, that the Ontario native would find a way to lead the Maple Leafs to glory.

Auston Matthews didn’t get that much heat. Nor did William Nylander or Morgan Rielly, the other members of Toronto’s infamous Core Four.

The criticism from media and fans followed Marner until his last playoff game with Toronto — a 6-1 defeat on home ice in Game 7 to the eventual champion Florida Panthers. He had two shots in 18:43 and was a minus-2.

“You just can’t care about it,” Marner said. “Everyone has their own opinions. They want to say what they want to say. Nothing you can do about it. You just got to focus on yourself and what you can do.”

Marner, as simple as he could answer it, said the easiest way to handle the criticism was to avoid social media, reading the news, or reading anything that anyone had to say.

It’s his way of trying to stay locked in. That’s how he’s approaching this postseason.

“I’m just trying not to read into it,” Marner said. “I’m just trying to focus on what I can do on the ice.”

A season of changes

There’s no sense in trying to convince one side of the aisle over the other on whether Marner deserved the blame for Toronto’s shortcomings.

One thing is certain: He can’t be blamed this year for the Maple Leafs missing the playoffs, while the Knights are one of 16 teams left playing for a Stanley Cup.

This season was anything but conventional for Marner. Injuries pushed him to full-time center for a large portion of the season, outside of his usual right wing spot.

Outside of the faceoff aspect, Marner’s defensive prowess allowed him to be a serviceable fit down the middle.

His scoring took a considerable dip from the 102 he had last year, finishing fewer than a point per game for the first time since 2017-18.

“It’s different when you look at only the points, which some people do,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “It’s not all points. There’s just so many things in the game over the course of the night that are so special in terms of what he does with his hockey sense and skill.”

Does he feel Marner is motivated to silence his playoff critics?

“I think some of that stuff matters more to the critics than it does to people,” McCrimmon said. “You worry about winning. You just really put your attention to that.

“Is Mitch Marner excited about the Stanley Cup Playoffs? I’m sure he’s excited as hell. All of our players are. It’s that time of year.”

Playoff performer?

Postseason narrative be damned, that’s why Marner was brought to Las Vegas.

McCrimmon felt they needed a dynamic winger to complement center Jack Eichel and captain Mark Stone. Coach John Tortorella put those three together in the first practice prior to Sunday’s Game 1 against the Utah Mammoth.

It’s unclear how long those three play together, but Tortorella isn’t afraid to line up his three best forwards to set the tone.

“Mitch is a great hockey player,” Tortorella said. “He’s a complete player. Very important guy. One of the top players in our league. He does a lot of things for us.”

It took Marner some time to get acclimated to his new home. There’s still a part of him that may feel he’s still adjusting to life outside of Toronto. The quiet has helped.

How loud the volume gets may only be determined with how he does in the postseason.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Marner said. “There’s going to be lots of ups and downs.

“We just got to make sure that we’re there for one another and have each other’s backs.”

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.