The Maple Leafs prospect pool is weak on defense. Ben Danford comes in

LAS VEGAS – The Toronto Maple Leafs selected 11 players in the previous three NHL Drafts.

Exactly one was a defenseman. And that defenseman, Noah Chadwick, was the 185th pick last summer, a sixth-round selection.

It’s not just that the Leafs haven’t drafted many defensemen lately, it’s that the organization hasn’t done a particularly good job of drafting the position over the past decade.

A case can be made that the two best defensemen the Leafs have drafted since 2014 are Rasmus Sandin and Sean Durzi, the team’s top two picks in the 2018 draft, both of whom were later traded away.

It’s been pretty bleak, both in terms of the draft and the development at the end.

Entering Friday night is Ben Danford, the Leafs’ top pick in the 2024 draft, an 18-year-old right guard who his current coach in Oshawa described as a “higher-end Chris Tanev.”

Danford grew up north of Belleville, in the small town of Madoc. He was a Leafs fan. He’s probably not scared of the idea of ​​playing in the bright lights of Toronto. Danford loved Phil Kessel – his first jersey with a player’s name on the back was Kessel – and Morgan Rielly.

“It makes it that much more special to be drafted by your favorite team as a little kid,” Danford said.

Danford is a pick by Leafs director of amateur scouting Wes Clark that, if you looked beyond the many public draft boards, you might have seen coming.

Danford not only fills a positional need, he also fills so many of the demands Clark and the Leafs place on players. There was a reason why Clark stepped up with such enthusiasm, far more so than the rest of the Leafs management group, to make the pick.

Mobility? Generals head coach Derek Laxdal called Danford “an effortless skater.”

High character? Bill. Danford previously captained his minor league teams and will likely captain the Generals next season. Let’s not forget how highly the Leafs ranked Fraser Minten because of some of the same character traits Danford exhibits.

Under Clark, intangible assets have become a greater priority.

“He’s the type of guy you can have an adult conversation with,” Laxdal said.

Defensive insight? His ability to read and close plays is something the Leafs valued.

“Ben is an ultimate competitor,” Laxdal said.

To start this season, Danford began to ask himself, his game, and his future some serious questions. Danford grew up loving Kessel because “when you’re a little kid, you like someone who scores a lot of goals.”

But by openly trying to produce offense, the best elements of his game – his defense – suffered. Let’s not call it a crisis of confidence, but rather an awakening. The kind of awakening to his skills that takes some players well into their 20s.

Once Danford reached the playoffs, he learned the value of defense in winning hockey games. It was then that Danford became the player he is today.

Ben Danford with Brad Treliving during the first round of the NHL Draft. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

“(Danford) realized who he is as a defender. He’s not (9th pick in the draft) Zayne Parekh or a high-end offensive guy. He’s a guy who’s going to defend, play a lot of minutes, take penalty kills and be a shot-blocking machine,” Laxdal said.

When it comes to why Clark and the Leafs took Danford higher than some draft boards thought, it’s important to remember this: Clark has never been the least bit concerned about player rankings, either. Like 2023 first-round pick Easton Cowan, the Leafs appreciated how Danford emerged late in the season and how he upped the ante in his play during the playoffs. He was more aggressive with his shooting. There were also more glimpses of his offensive prowess.

“(Laxdal) has opened my eyes a little bit to who I’m going to be at the next level,” Danford said.

The Leafs’ development department will have been watching Danford more than most other players when his Generals played Cowans London Knights in the OHL finals.

Danford said his improved playoff performance was due to the amount of information he absorbed from his coaches.

“Once he got into the playoffs, (Danford) calmed down and started playing better and better,” Laxdal said.

In Game 1 of the OHL’s Eastern Conference Championship against the North Bay Battalion, the Battalion had a two-on-one with Danford as the lone defenseman. A Battalion player appeared to have a backdoor tap-in until Danford slid across the ice to disrupt the play.

Laxdal then realized what the Leafs probably already realized: Danford has that dog in him.

Clark wants players who “influence winning hockey games” and they think they have found one.

“I do everything I can to help the team win,” Danford said.

Those who have seen it agree.

“I’ve seen him block shots and you don’t think he’s going to get off the ice,” Laxdal said. “And then he’s back there the next shift.”

There is a tenacity in Danford’s game, but also in his personality. That made him valuable to the Leafs.

Midway through the season, Danford suffered a broken nose. He played through it.

This attitude undoubtedly stems in part from his upbringing. His father owns Danford Construction Ltd., which operates just west of Kingston. And Danford himself learned to operate heavy machinery at a young age.

“It’s fun. I’ve been doing it since I was 13. My grandpa took me out and I got the hang of it,” Danford said.

Next season in Oshawa, Danford needs to play even more and possibly score more.

“The only thing about (Danford) is he’s a young kid. Does he make mistakes? Yes. But he’s responsible for those mistakes,” Laxdal said. “He wants to get better.”

The Leafs have to hope he can help them end the pattern of poor defenseman draft picks.

The organization wisely selected Morgan Rielly with the fifth selection in 2012. Since then, they have selected 24 defensemen in the draft. An alarming number of them didn’t show up or are, at best, a big question mark.

Besides Sandin and Durzi, Travis Dermott (2015) and Timothy Liljegren (2017) were the only ones to do well. Both players were part of the third pair of defensemen in the NHL to date.

In 2013, the Leafs took no defensemen. In 2014, they sniffed Rinat Valiev with the 68th pick. Four swings on D in 2015 yielded only Dermott, who played 251 games for the Leafs before being dealt to Vancouver. The Leafs went 0-for-3 with J.D. Greenway, Keaton Middleton and Nicolas Mattinen in 2016. After Liljegren, the Leafs used their next pick in 2017 on Eemeli Rasanen, a big defenseman who never played. Fellow draftees Fedor Gordeev and Ryan O’Connell also didn’t play that year.

The Leafs got Sandin and Durzi a year later. They haven’t found a defenseman at the draft since.

For the most part, the team has prioritized forwards with their top picks. In their last 12 drafts, they’ve only used their top pick on a defenseman three times – Liljegren, Sandin and now Danford.

Adding to the group is a clear focus for Leafs GM Brad Treliving. A lack of real options internally is what, at least in part, has Treliving looking forward to major upgrades on the back end this summer, including Tanev.

The Leafs are hoping they’ve found the next, well, Tanev.

“Tanev is a guy you can put against anybody and he can take people out. But Ben can probably attack more,” Laxdal said. “Those are the guys you win championships with.”

(Photo: Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)