#2016-17

cologne, germany — mitch marner packed light. really light.

the maple leafs forward brought just one stick when he embarked on his three-week, 10-game tour of europe, where he's representing canada at the 2017 iihf world hockey championship.

who does that?

"just marnsy," shrugged canada teammate and colorado avalanche forward nathan mackinnon. "I think he changed his curve or something so he only had one of them. they sent him a bunch now.

"but he had a good game with my stick so I was wondering if he's going to switch to it."

he didn't.

despite setting up a couple goals — mackinnon was the recipient of one — while using a borrowed stick, marner returned to his more familiar model when a fresh batch arrived a day later.

"it's just a little stiffer for him," mackinnon said, flashing a grin. "I'm a little bit bigger than marnsy. he's got like a 70-flex or something.

"that's how he shoots."

the way he shoots is one of the few things mackinnon has picked up about marner over the course of this tournament. the two have spent some power-play time on the ice together. they've spent some quality time together off the ice, too.

"we've grown pretty close since the tournament started," mackinnon said. "I didn't know what to expect. he kind of looks like a little nerdy kid, but he's not at all. he's got a lot of swag and confidence. he's unbelievable. he's going to be one of the best passers in the game for a long time. I didn't know how good he was until playing with him here. he's going to be a great, great playmaker for a long time.

"it's a treat. I wish I could take him to denver with me. I think carry-on would work.

mackinnon isn't the only one getting better acquainted with marner's playmaking abilities.

"I've learned he's a really good hockey player," said canada coach jon cooper, who doubles as the bench boss for the tampa bay lightning. "his confidence is through the roof and I think that's what really propels him a lot of other guys in his age group. all the guys coming up have the skill and hockey sense, but he just seems to have just a little bit more. and then he's got the confidence to do things that other guys may not.

"it makes him a special player."

the just-turned-20-year-old was a standout rookie with the maple leafs, scoring 19 goals and 61 points in 77 games with toronto this season.

he's parlayed that strong performance, which also featured three assists and four points in six games in the stanley cup playoffs, onto the world stage.

different maple leaf, same result, it seems. and it's opened the eyes of some of his canadian teammates.

"I didn't know much about him," said canada forward alex killorn, also of the lightning. "being in tampa, we don't get the tsn feed. I'm sure people that have tsn hear about him all the time. he's all over the media. I knew he was a really skilled player coming out of junior.

"coming into camp I don't think they knew if he was going to make it or not. seemed like he had a great year. I've been very surprised about how good a player he really is. we saw him a couple times this year but I didn’t know him very well.

"to see what he's doing here, I'm very impressed," he said.

and killorn, like mackinnon, has got to know marner better outside of the rink, too.

"he's a confident kid," he said. "he's fun to be around. he's fun to hang around with. he's just a good guy to be around. he's a guy that you would go to dinner with."

and who would grab the bill?

"oh, I've got a bigger contract so I probably would (pay), but he wouldn't be scared to pick up the cheque."

If marner's on-ice performance keeps up, though, he'll be able to get the next one.

as canada's youngest player, he's racked up the points during the international tournament. only mackinnon 14 points sit higher in team scoring than marner's 11. only four other players in the entire tournament boast a more productive stay in paris, france and cologne, germany than marner.

"he sees the ice as good as anybody," mackinnon said. "he's just going to keep getting better and better. he fits with everybody. he just makes everyone better. it's funny. he seems like he refuses to shoot out there. he's always looking and then just goes top-corner.

"he's awesome. he's fun to play with."

fun to play with. fun to watch. not so fun to face, though.