"Young Toronto Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner is a target on and off the ice. On the ice he's a huge target because of his speed and incredible offensive skills, off the ice he's a target by teammates for jokes because he looks so young. The 21 year old doesn't want to be that guy anymore and wants to take on a bigger leadership role. "I want to be taken more seriously, I guess you could say," Marner said, according to TSN. "I love the jokes about getting called a five-year-old and six-year-old and all that stuff, as I find it very amusing and funny, but obviously I want to be taken a bit more seriously (in the locker room) and taking even more upon myself."The ribbing of Marner goes beyond the locker room as he's been a consistent target of Auston Matthews on social media. Marner though, feels it's time to get past the jokes and get serious after two first round eliminations in the playoffs. "I think all young guys do (want to be taken more seriously), we all want to put more pressure on ourselves and be better every single night and going forward that's what we have to do." "We obviously have a lot to prove this year," Marner said. "(In the past) we were happy with just getting into the playoffs, but after back-to-back first-round exits, it's obviously something we don't want to keep doing and this is the year that we have to step up our game to another level and challenge each other and like I said, we're excited for this moment."What do you think of Marner's comments?
