Latest news with #Haymes
Edmonton Journal
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Edmonton Journal
Maple Leafs prospects take a lesson from horse play at development camp
Article content 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. Article content '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. Article content '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.' Article content 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. Article content 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. Article content Article content 'That was fantastic,' Chadwick said. 'Brilliant mind and great to work with him. Article content '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).' Article content Article content A GOOD BEGINNING Article content 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. Article content The 21-year-old forward, a native of Ottawa, signed a two-year pact with the Leafs at the same time. Article content The switch to the American Hockey League came after Haymes spent three seasons at Dartmouth College. Article content Article content '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.' Article content The Leafs have identified the areas they would like to see Haymes evolve. Article content '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).' Article content Haymes had a unique welcome-to-the-AHL moment during his first Marlies practice. Article content '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.'
New York Times
14-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Meet Luke Haymes, the NCAA free agent drawing interest from the Maple Leafs
Less than two years ago, Luke Haymes spent a week in Toronto. And the Dartmouth College centre can look back at his invite to the Maple Leafs 2023 development camp as crucial to his hockey career. 'It helped form me as a player and as a person,' Haymes, 21, told The Athletic of his time in Toronto. Advertisement The nutrition staff opened his eyes to how to better take care of his body. The trainers showed him how to properly add size through specialized weightlifting techniques. Leafs skating consultant Paul Matheson helped improve Haymes' edge work. It was such a vital week that once Haymes finishes his third NCAA season and becomes a free agent, he's interested in possibly returning to Toronto, but this time as a full-fledged Leaf. 'I know for sure I'm going to be a great NHL player one day,' the uber-confident Haymes said. The Leafs are at least interested in seeing whether that can happen in their organization. After a Feb. 10 report from Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman pegged the Leafs as among multiple teams poking around on one of the season's more anticipated NCAA free agents, Haymes told The Athletic he had a February video call with Leafs general manager Brad Treliving and special adviser to Treliving, Shane Doan. 'It was very informative and helped me understand their position on things and what they expect out of my game,' Haymes said. Haymes' family adviser Michael O'Rafferty confirmed Haymes has had conversations with seven NHL teams. 'The Leafs are quite interested, specifically with where they're at. They are marching picks out the door and they need to find these types of players, like they did with (other NCAA free agents Jacob Quillan and Bobby McMann),' O'Rafferty said. Haymes is likely drawing interest from the Leafs for multiple reasons. First, he stands 6 feet 1 and 192 pounds. Give him another summer of individualized training with direction from an NHL team and it's easy to see him bulking up to 200-plus pounds. That would help put him at home in an NHL training camp. Haymes is just 21, but he is already well spoken, intelligent and overtly confident. You can see why he would make a strong impression on an NHL team. Advertisement 'You hear the best players in the world talk about how they're still developing. I want to stick to that,' Haymes said. On the ice, his readiness for the pros stands out. After leading Dartmouth College in scoring last season with 36 points in 31 games, Haymes broke his hand to start this season. When he returned, he elevated his play. Haymes has seven goals and 10 points in 12 games this season. Bold strategy to leave Luke Haymes that open in the slot but we'll take it! Gameday Central: | #TheWoods🌲 — Dartmouth Men's Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) January 26, 2025 Haymes' best qualities are his hockey sense, skating and willingness to play a tenacious, physical game when required. He's not a project with tremendous upside to bet on. Instead, Haymes is a mature centre who has developed a style of play that's helped him focus his gaze on an NHL career. 'I think the coaching staff and the culture that we've created at Dartmouth allows for our games to be super simple,' Haymes said when asked why he's experienced success this season. 'I know that I'm at my best when I'm playing to my habits: good stick detail, hunting on the forecheck and choosing aggression over hesitation in every aspect of the game. That will dictate whether I'm playing really well and things are going well for myself and the team.' If you're the Leafs, you're likely attracted to Haymes' high-end self-awareness and how coachable he is. Haymes' IQ makes him the type who could be slotted into various roles. Yes, the gulf from the NCAA to the NHL is large. But Haymes' focus on developing pro-ready traits this season could help ease any transition to professional hockey. He already scores the kind of net-front goals Leaf coach Craig Berube wants to see. That's three straight games that Luke Haymes has opened the scoring for the Big Green! Gameday Central: | #TheWoods🌲 — Dartmouth Men's Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) February 1, 2025 Hearing Haymes' constant focus on small details of his game makes it hard not to recall Berube's training camp assessment of Leafs top prospect Easton Cowan. 'In the end, (Cowan) has got to be detailed. A lot of players coming out of junior hockey, they still have the junior habits. And he needs to show us that he doesn't have all the junior habits anymore,' Berube said. Advertisement That Haymes is focused on improving those habits before he makes the jump to the NHL? That's likely what has him on NHL teams' radars. Haymes has always been focused on developing the right way. He was drafted in the eighth round of the 2019 OHL Priority Selection by the Soo Greyhounds. Though some of his peers might have jumped at the OHL, Haymes charted his own path. He acknowledged that at just 5 feet 9 then, he was a late bloomer physically. That size likely contributed to Haymes' not being drafted by NHL teams as well. 'It sucked in the moment that I wouldn't make a difference in the OHL. But I wanted to make hockey my career. I was super underdeveloped. I needed extra time to adjust to the pace of play when I went to the Soo Greyhounds camp,' Haymes said. Haymes opted for two seasons at Ridley College, a St. Catharines-based boarding school before another season in the BCHL. He moved to Dartmouth College for the 2022-23 season. Haymes figured out early how to make an impact on the game by slowing down the pace of play with the puck and understanding he had to protect it with his size to get to the dirty areas of the ice more. And that's when the Leafs first registered their interest. Matt Moulson, an NHL veteran of 650 games and a scout for the Leafs in 2022-23, began tracking Haymes. Haymes' hockey sense, ability to make plays and skating stuck out. After Moulson visited Haymes at Dartmouth, Moulson would send Haymes video clips of his game, highlighting specific areas to improve. 'For him to take me under his wings and show me the ropes, he became an amazing mentor for me,' Haymes said. Moulson spent four seasons playing NCAA hockey and explained what the jump from the NCAA to the NHL would look like. The focus was always on developing habits, such as improving how he uses his hands in tight near the net or how to best pick up rimmed pucks and make a strong pass, that could be applied to NHL games. LUKE HAYMES GIVES US THE LEAD! 3-2 Big Green with 4:40 to go in the third period! — Dartmouth Men's Hockey (@Dartmouth_MIH) March 17, 2024 Haymes showed enough of those qualities for Moulson to lobby the Leafs to invite Haymes to the 2023 development camp. Though Moulson no longer scouts for the Leafs, he's stayed close with Haymes. The message Moulson delivers could help Haymes: 'How tough it can be to know that you need to take another person's job (in the NHL) and keep it every day. The competitiveness I've learned at Dartmouth will help me have a great career.' Advertisement Whether that career begins in Toronto remains to be seen. Every spring, undrafted college free agents garner attention from NHL teams looking for the next diamond in the rough. A year ago, trusted prospects expert Corey Pronman had Quinnipiac left winger Collin Graf as the top available free agent. Seeking a path to NHL playing time, Graf chose the lowly San Jose Sharks. Graf has ended up logging 13 NHL games this season and 33 games in the AHL, where he has potted an impressive 30 points. The second NCAA-based prospect on Pronman's list from 2024 was another Quinnipiac forward, Quillan. Quillan signed with the Leafs on Apr. 1. He made a short but eventful NHL debut Jan. 25, but his Leafs time ended there. He's been a regular Marlie this season. Another recent Leafs NCAA free-agent signing was Alex Steeves, who has since ripped up the AHL and become the top Marlies scorer of all time but has played just 11 NHL games. So perhaps the easiest way to handicap an undrafted NCAA-based signing is an eventual 'tweener who could bounce back and forth between the AHL and NHL if needed.' But those diamonds do exist, and that's what keeps scouts and NHL teams coming back to the mines. Turning Haymes into the next Tyler Bozak would be a best-case scenario. In 2009, the Leafs inked the undrafted centre out of the University of Denver to a two-year deal. He would spend nine seasons on a rebuilding Leafs team before winning a Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues. Now, Bozak might be the outlier. At worst, players such as Haymes could benefit an AHL squad. But any skilled NCAA free agent with pro-ready habits and size still feels worth a flier of a cheap contract. That's what Haymes is hoping to earn after the conclusion of the NCAA season this spring. And Toronto remains a possibility to make that happen. 'I'm going to develop into a player who can not only play at the NHL,' Haymes said, 'but stay there and have a very good career.'
