Veteran Muzzin hits career checkpoint
Perseverance gets newest Leaf to the 500-game milestone
TORONTO — It wasn’t really that hard an act to follow.
Jake Muzzin strolled into the media throng in the Toronto Maple Leafs dressing room Wednesday morning, moments after Mitch Marner took the spotlight, and faced a wave of questioning centring on his contract situation.
For the 29-year-old Muzzin, following up the red-hot, red-button issue with the Leafs these days may have been something like filling a supporting actor role to a Hollywood star.
But Muzzin stepped into the limelight that has been waiting for him, just as much as it has for the intriguing contract details for Marner and Auston Matthews.
Muzzin has been an instant star himself, even over the short six-day period he’s been with the Leafs since last week’s trade with the Los Angeles Kings. Wednesday morning’s big media scrum was even more special on a personal note, since it marked the prelude to what was going to be his 500th career National Hockey League game that evening against the Ottawa Senators. That milestone was built on the huge promise of a first-round pick in the Ontario Hockey League, a career-damaging back surgery at 16 years old, followed by the determination and support needed to get to where he was Wednesday — the newest hockey hero in Toronto.
“It’s been a long road but a good one,” Muzzin said Wednesday morning. “It’s been a little different path to get here, but we made it, so it will be good to get this (500th game) out of the way, and move forward.”
Muzzin was having a nice time with the media, a group which has been swollen over normal levels, with Matthews and Marner contract news so prominent in the story lines.
Now, well along in his career, and with 500 games under his belt, Muzzin could also reflect back on the troubled and disheartening start to his career.
A star defenceman with the Brantford 99ers minor midgets, Muzzin was a first-round, 11th-overall selection in the 2005 OHL draft, but surgery (herniated disc) delayed his debut until ’06.
Muzzin did not sign after the Pittsburgh Penguins picked him in ’07, and then went unselected when he re-entered the NHL draft in ’09. He’d returned to the Sault
Ste. Marie Greyhounds as an overager, even winning the Max Kaminsky Trophy as the OHL’s top defenceman, but faced the proverbial adversity when the early roads in his career were fraught with setbacks.
“A long time ago now … just believe in yourself and trust the process,” Muzzin said. “Things didn’t look good there, being hurt, the surgery, being a first-round pick and not being able to play for a year and a half. It was hard on myself but it made me stronger today.”
Muzzin, like all players who end up on long career paths, had parents to thank. Ed and Judy Muzzin — as well as his friends — supported him long before he was drafted, and they remained at his side when the surgery and draft disappointments left things looking bleak.
In addition, Muzzin thanked the surgeons that performed the surgery on his back. Then, hockey people such as Soo coach Denny Lambert — his staff — and former trainer and current Toronto Marlies strength coach Rich Rotenberg, taught Muzzin what it took to get to the NHL, and how to work his way back through a tough rehab from his surgery.
“Just family again, their support, the support I had from family, friends, agents … the surgeon, he fixed me up, and Rich Rotenberg … being able to fight through adversity, when I was younger, it all helped,” Muzzin said.
Muzzin eventually signed as a free agent with Los Angeles, and went on to win a Stanley Cup with them in 2014.
He left all that beautiful weather behind last week after the trade to Toronto. But Muzzin will take a snowy, cold walk to the rink in the morning, especially now that it brings him closer to his parents and family.
He’s landed two big hits and been named among the three stars, in his three games with the Leafs. The hits have been celebrated in a city where there’s been an air of worry that the young and talented Leafs blue line lacked the physical presence to challenge “heavy” teams such as the Boston Bruins.
Muzzin certainly learned how to play physically, having matured as an NHLer with a Kings team that won two Cups by being the “heaviest” team in the NHL.
The Kings also acquired former Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf last season, and Muzzin soaked up some of Phaneuf’s experience with hits and how to close off opposition forwards.
“Well, coming up in the West (Western Conference with the Kings), and playing in L.A., that’s the way we were bred,” Muzzin said. “I learned from older guys on my team, that’s what we did to be successful.
“Yeah, he’s (Phaneuf ) always been able to close guys,” Muzzin added. “I talked about it with him, that if I do end up on the right side (with the Leafs), how to close guys and catch them.”
Now, with 500 games to his credit, Muzzin remains a player who loves to learn everyday.
He’s earned his mileage as a player, but even after all his experience to date, dealing with the always big and busy Toronto hockey media can surprise you enough to make you smile.
“Dion said it would settle down after a while … but … I’m still waiting,”
Muzzin said, laughing.