You've heard this before: The Toronto Maple Leafs are on the come up.

Touting one of the finest young crops of players in the NHL, the Leafs are no longer a pushover club. A lot of that rejuvenation has to do with rookies like Mitch Marner.

Marner recognizes that in a hockey-crazed market like Toronto, an improved on-ice product means expectations off the ice are heightened: "Everyone just keeps telling me how many wins they want," Marner told Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun.

"But, it will be fun coming in here, believing in each other, believing in the one beside us. We do that and play the way we can, we’re going to be better than last year."

While Marner turned heads league-wide last season with his slick hands and offensive ability (19 goals and 42 assists), he realizes he'll need to become more of a two-way player in order for Mike Babcock to play him at crucial moments.

"You want to be out there to get a game tied so you can win it in overtime," said Marner. "You want a bigger role, go out on every shift like it’s your last. "Defense has always been important to me, it was always taught first. You’re always trying to see the guy coming in so they can’t back-door us."

Following a year in which Toronto qualified for the playoffs only one season removed from finishing dead last, the Leafs won't be surprising teams during this campaign compared to last.

That fact isn't lost on Marner.

"Last year, people didn’t know how we were going to," Marner said. "Now, we have to expect a hard game every night and that people will bring their 'A' game against us. We have to be ready."

The rest of the hockey world will find out if the Leafs are indeed "ready" when they kick off their regular-season schedule Oct. 4 with a visit to Winnipeg to take on the Jets.

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