Low-drafted Leafs defencemen hope to rise in job market

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When you’re drafted in round six and beyond, the road to the NHL seems like a distant galaxy.

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Noah Chadwick and Nathan Mayes intend to bring that dream a little closer this week at Maple Leaf rookie camp.

Mayes’ story already is a well-documented underdog tale. He was the last player chosen this past June, 225th overall, in round seven from the WHL Spokane Chiefs.

Chadwick was the last of three players Toronto selected in 2023, in the sixth round at 185, with so many picks traded away.

But Chadwick, now captain of the Lethbridge Hurricanes, is also a 6-foot-4 defenceman on a team needing both size and home-grown talent. Ditto for Mayes at 6-foot-3.

“It doesn’t matter at the end of the day, first round or wherever you’re drafted,” Chadwick said Wednesday at the Ford Centre. “I’m super thankful that Brad (general manager Treliving) and the Leafs took a chance on me and I’m sure Mayes is feeling the same thing. I just look forward to proving them right.”

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Chadwick ended his season with a one-game appearance for the AHL Marlies, believing he has grown into his body as he gets more experience.

“I’ve put on more muscle and I’m feeling better on the ice,” he said.

Marlies head coach John Gruden, who is running this three-day camp that ends with two exhibition games against Montreal’s rookies at the Bell Centre on the weekend, has a wide variety of wannabes among 15 forwards, eight defencemen and three goaltenders. They include first-rounders Easton Cowan and Ben Danford and second-rounders Fraser Minten and Roni Hirvonen.

There’s not a lot Gruden can tell Chadwick and Mayes they don’t realize already about being considered long shots. 

“First-rounders naturally get longer looks,” Gruden said. “But once you’re all in the same locker room and fighting for the same jobs, no one looks at what round you were drafted. It’s if the guy is ready or he’s working on the things he needs to be a good pro and a good teammate. 

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“Chadwick, I’ve noticed a big difference in him in terms of his strength in just one year. That stood out and his skating had another gear as well. I’ve been around a lot of good defencemen and he’s still too young for me and lots to learn, but what sticks out to me is he’s working on those things. Any kid, if they have those visions, that work ethic and they take care of themselves, the sky’s the limit.”

NASH-TY SERVE

Auston Matthews and Steve Nash are no strangers around a net. 

So, maybe it’s not a surprise that the Maple Leafs captain and Rocket Richard Trophy winner has found a regular tennis partner in the Canadian basketball legend. 

It turns out the two have played a couple of times this summer, as neighbours in Phoenix, Ariz. They met through former Leafs assistant coach Manny Malhotra, who wed B.C.-raised Nash’s sister, Joann, when Malhotra was with the Vancouver Canucks. 

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Matthews told Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts Podcast this week that Nash, who at 50 is nearly twice the Leaf centre’s age, remains a multi-sport threat. Both men are 6-foot-3. 

“He hits like a one-hand backhand kind of like (Roger) Federer. He’s pretty smooth. He loves it, too. 

“Not too many guys in Arizona are playing tennis in the middle of the day. He’s much better than me, but he’s a lot of fun to play with.”  

Nash was in the NBA from 1996 until 2014, then went into coaching and advising, including a stint with the Canadian national team. 

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MacKINNON IN MARNER’S CORNER 

Though they are in different conferences and rarely face each other, Nathan MacKinnon wants to see Mitch Marner do well.

Certainly MacKinnon, the Colorado Avalanche’s Hart Trophy winner, can’t help hearing all the criticism levelled at Marner when he was mostly shut down again during the playoffs last spring. Marner’s post-season numbers are in contrast to some great regular seasons, but a few Leafs are guilty on that front.

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“Marner gets a lot of flak in Toronto,” MacKinnon told the Canadian Press during this week’s NHL player media tour in Las Vegas. “But he’s honestly one of the best players in the league. I play with some of the best and then I skate with Mars (last month with a group of stars in Vail, Colo., that included Sidney Crosby) and he’s right up there with everyone.

“(We) hit it off on and off the ice. (He) looks awesome. impressive out there … unreal.”

The two first met and played together for Canada at the 2017 world championship.

LOOSE LEAFS 

If Leafs tryout Max Pacioretty makes the team when main camp opens next week, does he stick with his well-known 67 sweater number? That ‘heavy’ number represents the most recent year Toronto won a Stanley Cup and might leave him open to ridicule. Only Slovak defenceman Robert Svehla wore it for a full season in 2002-03, and forward Brandon Kozun for 20 games in 2014-15 … Former Leafs defenceman Travis Dermott is getting another NHL shot, this time on a PTO with the Oilers. But he is in familiar company. Dermott, 27, played for Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch in junior in Erie, where he was also a teammate of Connor McDavid and another former Leaf, Connor Brown. Dermott used to have Oilers CEO Jeff Jackson as his agent … NHL dates to note this coming season: Buffalo faces New Jersey in Czechia on Oct. 4 and 5; rosters for the other 30 teams must be in Oct. 7; there’s an 11-day hiatus for the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 10-22; and this season’s trade deadline is March 7 … Gruden and his rookie camp staff have three Russians this week, forward Nikita Grebenkin and goaltenders Vycheslav Peksa and Artur Akhtyamov, so communication can be a challenge. The goalies have come a long way in that department since July development camp. “I think they understand – though sometimes it’s selective understanding,” laughed Gruden. “But for the most part, they do a really good job and I like the fact they feel they can come and ask us questions. That can be hard when you speak another language” … The Marlies have re-signed forwards Robert Mastrosimone and Zach Solow, and defencemen Tommy Miller and Matteo Pietroniro, to one-year AHL contracts. Coming aboard on a one-year deal is defenceman Ryan McLeary, who along with Matrosimone is at rookie camp.  

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