'Couldn't Ask For Anything Better': How Former Maple

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As Toronto Maple Leafs 2024 first-round pick Ben Danford finishes a battle drill at the organization's development camp, he receives a stick-tap from Jake Muzzin.

The 36-year-old, who moved into a development role with the Maple Leafs last summer after scouting for the 2022-23 season, has been working behind the scenes with Toronto's top defensive prospects this past season.

Muzzin would have calls nearly every week with prospects like Danford and 2023 sixth-round pick Noah Chadwick throughout the year, dissecting their game and, at times, texting them clips of plays from NHL games he was watching. He’d even come to Danford’s games, too.

"A couple times a month [I'd have calls with Muzzin]," Danford said in a one-on-one with The Hockey News Toronto on Friday.

"It was mostly just my kind of video, my shifts. If he would send me a text or something, it might be a clip of an NHL game on just that night. Maybe a D-man had a broken play and it turned into the other team scoring, like things you don’t want to see, so things like that.

"But when it was Zoom calls, it was just looking at my shifts, focusing on myself, really just watching me, how I can make my teammates better, plays I can do better, and stuff like that."

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The 19-year-old Danford is coming off his third season with the OHL's Oshawa Generals, where he captained the club to the OHL Championship Final against Easton Cowan and the London Knights. Oshawa was able to steal one game from London before the Knights won the title and went on to win the Memorial Cup.

Cowan didn’t take to the ice during development camp, though when he spoke about Danford, he recalled how difficult it was to go up against him.

"Some people say he blocks shots like (Chris) Tanev, and he has sneaky-good offensive…

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