Marner wants to be taken more seriously within Leafs' dressing room

Mitch Marner may have led the Toronto Maple Leafs in scoring this past season, but he is still looking to carry more weight within the dressing room.

The 21-year-old's young complexion has seen him become the subject of jokes among teammates, but going forward he's hoping to shed that persona.

"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.

"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."

While Marner would like to have a more prominent role in the dressing room, the hope is that the Maple Leafs will also increase their stature within the league. For them to do so, they will need to advance past the first round of the playoffs, which they've failed to do in each of the last two years.

"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."

The Maple Leafs added John Tavares to the fold in free agency and head coach Mike Babcock has already stated that he expects Marner to play alongside the new star center.