{"id":498650,"date":"2026-03-11T20:48:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T20:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/498650\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T20:48:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T20:48:54","slug":"maple-leafs-prospect-ben-danford-has-sights-set-on-elusive-ohl-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/498650\/","title":{"rendered":"Maple Leafs prospect Ben Danford has sights set on elusive OHL prize"},"content":{"rendered":"

As part of our Maple Leafs coverage at the Toronto Sun, we\u2019re keeping tabs on the club\u2019s prospects<\/a>, checking in on a weekly basis with the Leafs\u2019 hopefuls across the hockey landscape.<\/p>\n

Today, we talk to defencemen Ben Danford of the Brantford Bulldogs and Noah Chadwick of the Toronto Marlies.<\/p>\n

GO GET THAT TITLE<\/p>\n

Danford has some pertinent business to help take care of as his career in the Ontario Hockey League winds down.<\/p>\n

Twice an OHL championship series finalist with the Oshawa Generals, Danford has legitimate sights on an OHL title with the Bulldogs. And, yes, he is drawing on the pain of losing in the final in the previous two years to the London Knights.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially when you get to this time of year, you really think about it,\u201d Danford told the Toronto Sun on Wednesday afternoon as the Bulldogs travelled north for a three-game swing through North Bay, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie. \u201cYou think about how fun the playoffs are and everything, but how tough that pill is to swallow to be runner-up. There\u2019s definitely a little more fire left in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

With less than two weeks remaining in the OHL regular season, the Bulldogs are the favourite to win once the post-season starts. They\u2019re in first place overall in the 20-team league with 97 points (44-9-7-2) and have eight wins in their past 10 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starting to really click, and it\u2019s good timing,\u201d Danford said. \u201cI think this squad can get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

A championship, with a trip to the Memorial Cup in Kelowna at the end of May as the reward, would put a nice bow on Danford\u2019s junior years. He\u2019s likely bound for the Marlies in 2026-27 to start his pro career.<\/p>\n

The Leafs\u2019 first-round pick in 2024, widely viewed as the franchise\u2019s top hope for the future not named Easton Cowan or Dennis Hildeby, Danford also draws some motivation from his world-junior experience with Canada this past winter in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Canada beat Finland to win bronze after it entered the tournament as a gold-medal favourite.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough, but we still got some hardware to bring home and I\u2019ll never forget that for the rest of my life,\u201d Danford said. \u201cYou dream of it as a kid, to put on that jersey with that crest on the front of it. It was a really cool experience overall.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the OHL playoffs around the corner, Danford \u2014 acquired by Brantford in a trade with Oshawa in October \u2014 sounds set.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel pretty good about my game right now,\u201d the Belleville native said. \u201cI\u2019m someone who gets trusted to play against the top lines of each team as much as I can. I take a lot of pride in that and I take more pride in not letting them score that scoring, for sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always trying to improve, but right now I\u2019m set on playoffs and trying to win it.\u201d<\/p>\n

GAINING RESPECT<\/p>\n

In his first season in the American Hockey League, Chadwick \u2014 the Leafs\u2019 sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft \u2014 steadily has been earning the respect of his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard coming in at his age (Chadwick turns 21 in May), but I think he has improved a lot,\u201d said defenceman Matt Benning, Chadwick\u2019s partner at times this season and a veteran of 465 NHL games. \u201cYou can see that he sees the ice really well. The poise is there. Those are some traits that you just can\u2019t learn.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a minute-muncher. He\u2019s out there in all situations. I think the future is bright for him. He has the brain to play in the NHL.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chadwick has been getting every opportunity to learn. Before the Marlies played in Syracuse against the Crunch on Wednesday night, Chadwick had suited up in 53 of the Marlies\u2019 56 games, the most among D-men on the team.<\/p>\n

For the most part, he has not to worry about being scratched if mistakes are made.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I really had any expectations coming in (to the season),\u201d Chadwick said. \u201cIt\u2019s understanding when to make plays and when not to make plays, it\u2019s a lot of situational things.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe support is really good from guys, they\u2019re in the right spots. It\u2019s not easier (in the AHL), but it\u2019s a little bit simpler in terms of structure. You know what your options are right away. That has been an adjustment.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a time last summer, Chadwick lived with Jake Muzzin, now a key member of the Leafs\u2019 player development staff. Having Muzzin, Mark Giordano (a coaching advisor with the Marlies) and vets such as Benning and Dakota Mermis as sounding boards has been beneficial for Chadwick.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re all good guys to lean on and learn from, asking questions, being a sponge a little bit in that regard,\u201d Chadwick said. \u201cI\u2019m thankful to have them be able to help. They\u2019re more than willing to chat about things and go over stuff. I appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n

tkoshan@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n

X: @koshtorontosun<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As part of our Maple Leafs coverage at the Toronto Sun, we\u2019re keeping tabs on the club\u2019s prospects,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5106],"tags":[3690,4111,2329,19792,19806,3081,5,6649,20,5172,6648,3084,161,4,763,791,4110,35965,66,31,1725,5171],"class_list":{"0":"post-498650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-american-hockey-league","9":"tag-ben-danford","10":"tag-bulldogs","11":"tag-dakota-mermis","12":"tag-danford","13":"tag-dennis-hildeby","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-jake-muzzin","16":"tag-maple-leafs","17":"tag-mapleleafs","18":"tag-mark-giordano","19":"tag-matt-benning","20":"tag-minnesota","21":"tag-nhl","22":"tag-noah-chadwick","23":"tag-ontario-hockey-league","24":"tag-oshawa-generals","25":"tag-sudbury-wolves","26":"tag-toronto","27":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","28":"tag-toronto-marlies","29":"tag-torontomapleleafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116212518052748765","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}