National Post (National Edition)
Leafs made right move in picking Marner
From slimy reptiles to wicked curveballs, Mitch Marner, Noah Hanifin and the rest of the top-ranked NHL prospects of 2015 certainly were kept busy in the days leading up to the draft in Sunrise, Fla.
On one particular muggy south Florida morning, Marner and Hanifin joined Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Dylan Strome for a tour of the Everglades. At one point, handlers took turns putting a wriggly green snake around the necks of Marner and Hanifin, a squirming living necklace as it were.
“(Marner) was scared of it,” Hanifin, who showed no such fear, said with a chuckle. Advantage: Hanifin.
Another Miami-area outing for the top prospects saw them have the opportunity to go to Marlins Park and take batting practice at the spiffy home of the local MLB team.
“I was pretty bad at it. I think I hit four or five balls. It was a lot of fun though,” Marner recalled.
As for Hanifin, “I did pretty well in the cage, being an American kid and things like that.” Advantage: Hanifin.
Of course, sitting with the fourth overall pick at the time, the Maple Leafs were not looking for a snakehandler. Or a batting champion. Their focus was on taking the teenager who would make the biggest impact.
With McDavid and Eichel off the board to the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres respectively, the intrigue ballooned. It was expected Marner, Hanifin and Strome would be the next three players taken off the board. But in what order?
Strome, McDavid’s highscoring teammate with the OHL’s Erie Otters, soon was plucked at No. 3 by the Arizona Coyotes, leaving Marner and Hanifin waiting to see who would be taken by a Leafs organization intrigued by both players.
Marner was the diminutive uber-talented forward who had been selected by the OHL’s Knights by thenLondon GM Mark Hunter, now in charge of the Maple Leafs’ draft. As for Hanifin, he fit the bill as the type of puck-moving defenceman coach Mike Babcock relishes, one of the reasons Hanifin and his family were invited to meet with the Leafs brass one final time a day before the draft.
So here they were, Mitch Marner and Noah Hanifin, the butterflies churning in their guts as the Leafs were on the clock.
“It was pretty nerve-racking,” Marner said Tuesday. “Obviously you heard about Noah, Stromer and I and the 3-4-5 slots. No one knew what anyone was thinking.”
Added Hanifin: “You definitely are a little nervous. But I knew the possibility (of being a Maple Leaf). I just didn’t allow myself to expect anything.”
In the end, when Hunter went up to the stage and announced Marner was the pick, it was the right one.
That’s not to say Hanifin might not win a Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenceman one day. And let’s face it, as promising as these young 2016 Maple Leafs are, the team’s Achilles heel remains on the blue-line, a void Hanifin certainly could have helped fill.
Truth be told, the reason the Leafs made the correct pick in Marner was it showed the organization’s faith in Hunter, scouting’s version of a rink rat to whom the Leafs had paid a lot of money to woo away from London and restock the team’s system with young talent. Had team president Brendan Shanahan overruled Hunter and gone with Hanifin, he would have caused doubts concerning Hunter’s authority.
Besides, no one knew Marner’s upside more than Hunter, who had scouted the kid since minor hockey. And now, 17 months later, his decision seems to be paying dividends with Marner and his impressive talent taking the league by storm.
Marner’s spectacular goal against the Florida Panthers last week even left GM Lou Lamoriello impressed. And that’s no easy task.
“Every game there is a possibility of seeing something extraordinary from one of our young players like we did last week,” Lamoriello said.
Tuesday night marked the first time Marner and Hanifin faced each other in an NHL game as the Hurricanes visited the Air Canada Centre. Perhaps Babcock put it best.
“Obviously we made the decision to go with Mitch. They like their guy and we like our guy,” Babcock said.
Snake-handling and hitting curve balls be damned.