Maple Leafs prospects take a lesson from horse play at development camp
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No horsing around.
The Maple Leafs prospects learned a lesson from a member of the equine family on Friday morning.
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Maple Leafs prospects take a lesson from horse play at development camp Back to video
As promised by assistant general manager, player development, Hayley Wickenheiser a day earlier, the club’s youngsters had a training session with a young, untamed horse at Toronto Equestrian Downtown on the Exhibition Grounds.
Led by trainer Jeff Davis, the exercise was geared toward teaching leadership and teamwork skills, and how Davis uses those elements with young horses and then how the players can apply them on and off the ice.
“Not your average experience at development camp,” forward Nick Moldenhauer said. “It was a different way to approach learning about leadership, how he taught the horse little commands like staying still and when he wanted to push its rear around so it doesn’t kick him in the face, how he went about teaching the horse.
“A little crazy to say that you could apply it in a dressing room, but I think you could. You first want to gain respect from the horse, and then build that trust with it, and that’s something you can do with your teammates that’s going to be beneficial in the long run.”
Defenceman Noah Chadwick shared his takeaways from the experience.
“The relationship you have to build with that horse, being assertive with it, but also not too aggressive, it’s like a teammate relationship,” Chadwick said. “You have to get the horse to respect you and vice versa. It’s a parallel between that and the hockey locker room.”
OFF-ICE DEPARTURES
The changes with the Leafs during the off-season have not been limited to the ice.
While the sign-and-trade involving Mitch Marner and the Vegas Golden Knights naturally grabbed all the headlines, a couple of long-standing members of the hockey staff, among others, no longer are with the team.
Rich Rotenberg, who was the club’s director, high performance and had been with the team since 2019 (after spending four seasons with the Toronto Marlies) did not have his contact renewed.
Also moving on is Rob Pettapiece, who was the Leafs’ director, hockey research. He has been with the team since 2014, when he was hired for what was then the Leafs’ new analytics team.
The Leafs are deciding the next steps for the performance and research & development sides of the hockey department.
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CAPTAIN MATERIAL
Chadwick had to skate out of his comfort zone in 2024-25, and the big defenceman came to enjoy it.
Named captain of the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League on the eve of the season, Chadwick, the Leafs’ sixth-round pick in 2023, gladly accepted the increased responsibility.
“It’s interesting being put into that role, and it was awesome for me,” Chadwick said. “I grew a lot as a person, and had to be vocal and challenge our players and hold them accountable, as well as myself.
“It allowed me to care for everyone a little bit more, to see more out of my teammates as humans, and to take that step toward understanding what everyone’s going through on and off the ice.”
The 6-foot-4, 207-pound Chadwick will take a run at cracking the Marlies roster in the fall. He’s what the Leafs like in their defencemen, as general manager Brad Treliving says, big and long.
Chadwick’s point of contact with the Leafs last season was player development staff member Jake Muzzin. Chadwick took the chats and guidance from Muzzin, a Stanley Cup winner with the Los Angeles Kings and as rugged and as steady as anyone on an NHL blue line, to heart.
“That was fantastic,” Chadwick said. “Brilliant mind and great to work with him.
“One of his strengths when he played was his ability to think the game well, and I think that’s probably my biggest strength as well. From that side, we sort talked and exchanged a lot of ideas and gained a better understanding of what to do in certain situations. Being a little harder, being more physical on guys and having a calmness about me on the ice and just being patient with certain things (was an area of concentration).”
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A GOOD BEGINNING
Luke Haymes had a solid start to his professional hockey career, recording six points (two goals and four assists) in nine games with the Marlies after joining the club on an amateur tryout.
The 21-year-old forward, a native of Ottawa, signed a two-year pact with the Leafs at the same time.
The switch to the American Hockey League came after Haymes spent three seasons at Dartmouth College.
“Pace, skating,” Haymes said of the biggest difference. “Guys are more efficient (in the AHL). Pace-wise, guys are just a lot smarter than where I was in college. Playing with those guys who move the puck a lot faster, it’s more efficient, tape-to-tape.”
The Leafs have identified the areas they would like to see Haymes evolve.
“He has the opportunity to make an offensive impact,” Wickenheiser said. “The aspects of physicality and being able to be a good defensive, reliable forward (are key).”
Haymes had a unique welcome-to-the-AHL moment during his first Marlies practice.
“I made a backdoor play on (goalie) Matt Murray, and he didn’t like that too much,” Haymes said. “It was a tough play for him. Goalies don’t the backdoor stuff, in practice especially.”
SPEAK UP
When the prospects arrived earlier in the week, welcome speeches were made by Treliving and Wendel Clark. The following day, Leafs coach Craig Berube spoke to the group.
“Really good perspective from (Berube) and he’s been around the game for so long,” Chadwick said. “I respect him as a human and value his opinion as a person and a coach.”
Berube’s message?
“It’s compete and it’s the willingness to go above and beyond,” Chadwick said, “and how far you’re going to go for your teammates to battle, it comes down to that.”
The players watched a video of Clark’s NHL highlights.
“It was pretty fun to watch,” forward Hudson Malinoski said. “He could hit, score, do everything. He was pretty cool to see.”
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