Mitch Marner carried his bag toward the London Knights bus, convinced that his hockey career was over. It was the first year of his eligibility for the NHL draft, and somehow his talent had vanished when he needed it most. He’d only managed to score a single goal and four assists in the first 10 games of the season, and after losing that night in October 2014 to the Erie Otters, Marner was pointless in four straight games. Meanwhile, two players he’d grown up being compared to had lit the Knights up in a 6–2 win for the Otters. Connor McDavid—the consensus No. 1 pick, and most touted prospect in a decade—scored a goal and added two assists. Dylan Strome, McDavid’s linemate, had a goal and an assist, which gave him an astounding 30 points in the same amount of time it had taken Marner to score just five.

Marner met his father, Paul, before he reached the team bus for the four-and-a-half hour trip back to London, Ont.

“Dad, I suck,” he said. “I’m so embarrassed for you and Mom. I’m no good.”

The words nearly broke Paul Marner. He knew his son had misplaced the joy he’d had every time he stepped on the ice since he was a toddler growing up just north of Toronto. And he knew there was only one place where Mitch Marner could rediscover what he’d lost. Paul followed the Knights bus through the night and met the team back in London. When Mitch walked off the bus, Paul told his son that, together, they were heading home.

Doubt has chased Marner throughout his life in hockey. As he fast-tracked through every level in the game, he ran up against outside concerns that he was too small and too weak to make it. It was almost laughable for a kid with his natural scoring ability. He’d never let it bother him. But suddenly, in the most important year of his young life, the doubt had finally caught up. And while hindsight tells us that things worked out for Marner—he was taken fourth overall by his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2015 NHL draft—he will soon face even more pressure, carrying a fair share of the franchise’s great expectations on his lean shoulders. Whether he arrives with the Leafs next season or is sent back to London for another year in junior, the question is starting to bubble among fans and critics alike: Is Marner ready? It was something, for a time, he wasn’t sure of himself.