Maple Leafs Media Availability | Development Camp 2 | July 05, 2025

Maple Leafs Media Availability | Development Camp 2 | July 05, 2025

What did you like most about camp? Uh some surprised players maybe or
Yeah, I thought uh it was a really good camp. A little bit short in format than what we’ve done in the past. It seemed like uh it was just the the right amount of time with uh when you have 48 players. Um we cut out the scrimmage this year, but we still got the competitive aspect in it. Tried to build throughout the last few days. So, uh nice opportunity to see. It’s a lot of players to to look at, but the free agents that we invited in, then our drafted players um you know, having a having a look at our new picks with uh players like uh Hopkins and and Koblar and just getting a chance to see their skill. Uh and also the age difference. You’ve got 17 18 year olds versus 24 year olds in there. So, you factor that in as well. But I thought it was a good week overall. What sort of first impression did he make on you in this camp?
He’s a very uh very serious kid. uh comes from I think a family and a background of understanding what training and work ethic is all about. Um uh with the Olympic history with his parents um seems to have uh no uh you know he doesn’t give up much on the ice. He gets pushed around a little bit and then he pushes right back. So I like like what I saw there uh and some good offensive instincts. So um he’ll be staying uh for another week or so. We’ll be working with him here in the facility and uh yeah he’s been a bright spot in camp. Hopkins is a guy that we’re talking to the players in the other group stood out. What what what stood out about his camp?
Yeah, he stood out for me as well just because of his uh his hockey sense. He made some really nice plays. Not an overly big kid. Uh not an overly fast kid, but you notice him out there many many times just by the ability to complete plays and uh put the puck on people’s sticks. So, it was nice to see. That’s kind of what uh we we saw of him uh in the draft as well. And it seemed to translate the last few days. Now the guys wearing the work shirts and I’m just wondering is there a theme or a message that you wanted all the prospects to take out of this week? Yeah, the theme this week we talked a lot about was details matter. Um you know the difference often between making it from this level to the next and the next is is the little things that you do when nobody’s watching. So we talked about the details from from on the ice but also off the ice. the way you train, you carry yourself, you eat, you you work out in the gym, all those things add up over time and consistency over time is often what separates.
When you look at the horse stuff that you guys did, do do you feel like you got what you wanted out of that exercise? Yeah, the the horse um the a lot to be made about the horse, but uh you know I if you ask myself and Shane Don, we loved it, but we grew up around horses. But it was uh it was fantastic the way uh you know, the whole point of that is to do something uh a little bit different but with a point of leaving the players thinking maybe a little outside the box. When you do a development camp, you’re trying to develop these guys as much on the ice as off the ice. And so, uh, with the with Jeff Davis and what he was able to do, uh, tying in the ability to, you know, trust, respect, teamwork, um, the horse is sort of like a young prospect developing and the way in which they work together. I thought it was a really unique exercise. I think, uh, I think quite a few of the players liked it and were a little bit surprised. Uh, they didn’t know what they were walking into, but at the end, uh, a lot of good comments, so I think it worked out. last year.
Nathan Maze was kind of an amusing story for us last year, last player picked and all that, but he’s here again. He’s had better numbers last year. He’s uh What do you think of his development within the last year?
Yeah, he he’s uh he’s really improved. I think Nathan, if you saw him in this camp, he’s got flashes of offensive uh ability. He scored some really nice goals in the WHL. And for him, it’s finding the sweet spot uh of who he is going to be as a defenseman. is, you know, is he more of a defensive defenseman with an offensive ability, but he skates well, he’s got good hands and he’s a big body out there and so I thought he had a good camp the last few days and he’s kind of coming out of his shell a bit as well.
Any kind of marching orders, whatever from these guys, re resource materials to take home during the summer. What’s your message there as far as
Yeah, for any of the players that are in our organization, we have everything available to them, whether it’s uh strength and conditioning, nutrition, uh on ice opportunities, um that’s all there and the the advice is take advantage of it. It’s here for you. The free agents that uh will follow along and if they are in our system at some point in time, they’ll have the same opportunities. But um there’s there’s everything a player could want available here and it’s just about taking advantage of it. Some of the prospects were saying that it was cool to see Tamarus on the ice skating and looking like he’s like on top of his game on Friday. Like how much of that is it helpful for you guys in the development program? How much can you hold him up as a role model?
Well, it was interesting when Mark Jardano uh spoke to the players yesterday. One of the players asked, you know, who are some of the the best pros you’ve ever been around? And his first answer was John Tiveres. Um I’ve trained with John myself over the years and um he’s just uh the ultimate pro. he doesn’t leave any details unturned and he has a plan for himself. And so one of the cool things about doing development camp is we have these guys that are skating before uh some of the pros that are in town. So we give the uh players a chance to watch them um ask them questions and opportunity to just see oh that’s what it takes to get to that level and John is the epitome of that.
I wonder I was going to say speech you mentioned uh for the undrafted guys for the guys who are maybe have a bit of a longer path. How valuable do you think that was? I think there’s a lot of players sitting listening to Gio that that said that’s me and that that could be me. Um the the the career that he had being undrafted coming in and eventually winning a Norris trophy is really an incredible story. But when he starts to speak about the the road and how much commitment and effort and what he learned along the way, uh I think probably those players sitting there listening go, I can do it, but boy, it takes a lot of a lot of work to get there. And so it’s nice to have these these guys around that can just share stories very informally with the players. I think they get a lot out of it.
That was my question.
What do you Sorry. What do you hope to see different out of Ben’s game when he comes back for training camp?
You know, I don’t think Ben has to do anything different. He just needs to be more of what he is, which he’s a great skating puck transporter. Uh he can play physical when he when he has to. He’s great at playing up in the play. I think just calm the calm around his game, picking his spots more, knowing that he doesn’t have to do two different jobs on the ice. Sometimes he tries to because he skates so well, you can skate yourself right out of the play a little bit. And so it’s just actually calming that down and being a little bit more of who he is and trusting in himself.
Yeah.
You were friends with Mano Rome. Uh what it was like having Nick here. He mentioned that you have a relationship with his aunt. Yeah. Yeah. Mano and I were are still are, but we were really good friends. We uh played on the national team together. She was a mentor to me and I really admired how she navigated that whole NHL situation and just was a great teammate. So, um yeah, when I see Nick, I see Mano, they look similar in a lot of ways and um he’s just a a really nice kid and uh wants to play professional hockey so badly, works as hard as he possibly could. So, that whole family with his dad, Pascal, and Meno, like that there’s um yeah, no surprise that he’s willed himself to this point in his career. Yeah. What are you going to remember about this week?
Um, yeah. I feel like last year coming in I was a bit nervous and everything. This year I got to soak in a bit a little bit more. Maybe because, you know, I wasn’t as stressed out and stuff knowing a lot of people coming into this. Um, yeah, I think the three days that we uh were on the ice, it was really helpable. Uh, we worked on transition rush and compete and they really wanted us to know that that’s kind of what, you know, the NHL game revolves around. So, I’m really going to take that away from my from this camp. um knowing, you know, those things, it was a bit of an eye openener. A lot of give and goes, a lot of, you know, chips. You got to, you know, move your feet at all times. Um, so that was really helpful to, you know, to get to know that kind of stuff.
What’s an example of something that you learned this week? It’s obviously all about development. You hear off the ice seminars. You mentioned the on the ice. What’s an example of something that you you think you learned this week?
Uh, yeah, like I mean there’s there’s so many things um from, you know, all the seminars we doing, uh, from, you know, the video that we’re doing. Um, I mean, nothing in particular stands out like I just said. Um, you know, the stuff that we worked on on the ice, um, you know, it was really helpful. We did a lot of power skating. Uh, you know, we’re in the gym working out. Um, doing all that stuff. Um, I mean, it was helpful, you know, being comfortable around here this year. Um, it helped a lot. Um, you know, having confidence and stuff. So, um, yeah. So, that was good.
Is there anyone that stuck out to you in this camp most specifically? Um, I thought a lot of guys, um, you know, worked their, uh, you know, they worked really hard, uh, this camp. Um, I didn’t think anyone, you know, uh, you know, left anything on the ice. Uh, they, you know, they left it all out there. So, uh, yeah, I thought everyone, you know, was really good. Um, yeah, I thought everyone was good to be honest. So,
you were the top pick coming in last year. Koblar the top pick coming in this year from the last draft. What What stood out to you about him?
Yeah. Um, yeah, you know, he’s really good hands. um you know, someone who’s very um he’s got a really good shot. Um even watching him out here just 10 seconds ago, I think he just went bar down four times in a row. So, uh yeah. No, I think he’s uh he’s going to be a really special player uh soon to come. Uh yeah, he’s really good.
Hopkins was in the other group, but he was talking about how he didn’t like playing you in the OHL. I’m wondering what it’s like to play Hopkins in the O.
Uh yeah, it’s actually funny because we roommed together uh this week. He was my roomy. Uh yeah, Hoppy, I mean, he’s a great player. Um he’s someone that’s um uh he’s uh really tall. He’s a lanky kid. Um I think he’s just gonna keep getting better. The more he fills out, he’s really skilled. His hands shot. Um good skater. Yeah, I know. Hop is a really great player. So, we were just talking to Haley about you and you she was saying sometimes you have a tendency maybe to try and do too much. I’m wondering like where are you at with that and trying to keep that at bay?
Yeah. like um I feel like um that’s something that I could maybe um just like I said um I think I said it earlier um in the week that I just need to keep things a bit little bit more simple at times. Um you know I can’t over complicate things when you go to the next level. Uh you need to get you know the trust of the coaches and that’s not from you know over complicating things turning over pucks you need to keep it simple play the right way. Um, not playing safe by any means, but um, you know, just getting to that line where um, you know, the riskreward um, but you’re not playing stupid. So, um, yeah. What was it like to hear from Jerroano? Anything resonate in particular from from his talk the other day?
Yeah. Um, it was great. Um, he’s, uh, someone that obviously I watch growing up, him, you know, being the captain of the Flames and everything. And went in the Norris not too long ago, um, as a 35-year-old. Like, he’s someone that’s, you know, just high character person, but the way he played the game, too. uh block shots, you know, I respect that so much and and just he was allaround player uh two-way offense, defense leader. Um yeah, I mean to get to hear, you know, words of wisdom, he’s uh he’s got a lot of them um from a guy like that is really cool. So yeah, it was awesome. You know, I learned a lot of things from uh everybody from a support staff to, you know, just seeing how the guys are and um you know, compete was the big focus this week and I think that was something that I’ll definitely remember going into this uh next season. What was your favorite moment?
Uh favorite moment honestly probably just had to be on ice. You know, I just I love getting out there um skating with all these guys and um you know, we had we had great staff out there, so yeah, it was great.
Anyone stick out most to you?
Um I I wouldn’t say like stick out most, but there was just a bunch of amazing players I’d say. Um Hopkins looked really good there on the uh the other I got to watch a little bit of three on three and four on four. So yeah, he looked really good and um yeah, a lot of great guys out there. What impressed you most about his game? I thought I think he’s just such a smooth skater. Um, you know, he handles the puck really well from what I got to see and I’m just really poised. Did you have a chance to to see I guess Tvarus was skating before the group one of the days? Like do you have any interactions with the current leafs? Yeah, I got to see that for a little bit as we were getting ready. So that was really cool and just see how hard he works and uh his work ethic is just uh yeah, it’s something that’s that’s really special.
And I understand you guys heard from Gordano as an undrafted guy. Like what what I guess pops about his message?
Yeah, it’s definitely awesome just obviously to keep going. you know, he went through a little bit of trials and um in his career when he went over to Russia and um he he had the opportunity to come back and you know, he took it and um yeah, I just think his work ethic and other thing that uh really stuck out to me and um something that I’m just going to focus on for the coming up into this season.
What will you focus on for the rest of the summer? Yeah, just getting bigger, faster, and stronger. I know that’s, you know, kind of what everybody says, but I think for me, putting on a couple more pounds of muscle and um just really focusing on my speed work, uh going into next season and just being heavier on pucks.
What are you going to remember most about this week?
I think everything. I think it’s just a cool experience. Obviously, to have all the resources here and all the coaches on ice, like anytime you can have like Kyle Clifford out there to like a Norris winning defenseman, Jardano, Jake Muzzin, like all these guys, it’s it’s incredible to learn from them obviously. So, yeah. What’s an example of something that you learned? I’m sure you learned a lot this week, but what’s something that you learned that stuck out? I think um everything just finer details. I think they they went over a lot of finer details and um just being a pro and all kinds of stuff like that. We had a lot of really good seminars and stuff which I learned a lot from. So that was good too.
What was your favorite moment of the week? I think all of I think just getting to meet the guys. It was a really good group of guys here and I think we all bonded pretty well. So just hanging out with the guys at the hotel and stuff like that after the skates was a lot of fun.
Is there any player going up against that really, you know, caught your eye or impressed you?
I think everyone here is a great player. Like I think obviously everyone’s here is good and the first rounders like Danford, he was really good out there. I was on the ice with him and a bunch of other guys were really good. A lot of really fast players out here. So yeah.
What impressed you most about Danford?
Just way he skates and the way he can move and he’s a big guy, too. And the way he moves, it’s it’s pretty special. Uh you mentioned the seminars, Jaredano, you mentioned like you had never been drafted until till this year. You were, you know, what what stood out to you about his path, his message.
Um just the hard work. He spoke very well and he was it was a very it was like a motivating speech sort of. It kind of showed guys that anything’s possible if you put the work in and uh that was really cool to see someone like that speak in front of all of us. So yeah, I think all the guys really appreciated him doing that.
And I know some guys were t talking about how they got a chance to see like Tvaros on the ice before. Like did you have a chance to see that? Like what stands out seeing those guys skating now?
Oh yeah. It’s they’re incredible. You watch them on TV as a kid, right? Growing up. They for the last like my whole life, right? And then you’ve been watching these guys and you see them in real life and you’re like, “Wow.” Like it’s kind of crazy with Javarus in particular. Like some guys were saying like he looks like he could play like World Championship gold medal game right now.
Oh yeah.
Yeah. What’s What stands out watching him skate in July?
Just the way he works so hard, right? He just goes full out every time and that’s pretty much it.
The uh the fight got a lot of attention like on social media. Did you hear about it? Like what was that like?
Yeah, it went viral, I guess. Um I don’t know. I just People must have liked it or it went viral. I I don’t know.
Yeah. What did your family say or did you hear from from them about it or
um No, just just playing hockey.
Uh what’s your focus the rest of the summer?
Um just to work my hardest and uh learn every single day and just keep working, keep sticking to the grind and that’s it. Just simple day by day, one day at a time. last man on the ice at development camps. Uh what were you working on there at the end?
Uh no, just trying to develop, getting better, uh putting extra work to get as best as possible and uh trying to out compete the other guys.
What will you remember most about this week?
Uh no, just uh this the stuff we’re uh trying to learn and uh yeah uh taking this with me to my club back home. Lexon,
what is an example of something you learned at this camp? uh no just uh to not think about what others think about you and focus on yourself and uh don’t let your emotions uh uh go like I don’t know how to say about um don’t let your emotions affect you.
What’s it been like having a guy like Victor here? You know, just going through the process of you being in Toronto for the first time.
No, he’s been a lot of help. Uh he’s helped me in to get into the community. uh to get to know the other guys and no he’s a great guy hockey player.
What was your favorite moment this week?
Uh I would say putting on the Leafs jersey. What did that feel like?
Uh it felt actually really crazy. Uh actually just an unbelievable feeling and uh to put on a Leaf’s jersey.
A couple of guys here were saying that they saw Tavvar skating at one point during the week. Did you see him out there? Did you get a chance to watch him at all?
Uh, no, actually not. I had uh medicals at the time he was on the ice, so I didn’t get the chance.
Did you see any leafs this week? Uh, no, actually not.
But you’re sticking around for for a little bit more?
Yeah, I’m sticking around until the 11th.
What are you going to do next week?
Uh, just working on the stuff I need to get better at and uh develop. What is at the top of the list of stuff that you’re focusing on that you want to get better at?
Uh, explosiveness, getting faster. Uh, and I want to develop my shot to Yeah. Is there anybody’s shot that you watch that you like?
Uh, yeah, Matthews. Uh, and uh, of course, Bidor has also an unbelievable shot. So, yeah.
What do you notice when you watch Austin’s shot?
Uh, no, just how how he can shoot and from different places and how he places the puck to not let the goalie or the defenseman read him.
Uh, for for you, Haley was saying she likes that you don’t back down. We saw at the other pad, you know, there was a cross check, you got right back into FN. Where’s that come from from for you?
Uh, no. I I would say it had been through my childhood. Uh, I’ve always been battling with my brother. So, yeah, he’s bigger, stronger, but I don’t I don’t let down. Yeah. Do you do you win some of those battles or a lot of those battles?
Uh, I would say I win them some of those.
How much older is he?
Uh, he’s 03. Four years older.
Four years older. What does he think about this? You get drafted by the league.
Uh, no. He thinks that it’s really cool. Uh he just supports me and uh one of the best stuff for me.

Players address the media following Maple Leafs Development Camp on Saturday.

0:00 Hayley Wickenheiser
7:12 Ben Danford
10:54 Ryan Kirwan
12:35 Matthew Hlacar
15:13 Tinus Luc Koblar

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