Mark Hunter
Mark Hunter
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CTV London’s Norman James caught up with Toronto Maple Leafs Director of Player Personnel Mark Hunter to look back on the summer, the draft, and look ahead to training camp.



Mark, how’s the summer been for you?
It’s [been] a good summer. We had a lot of stuff going on, with the draft and of course free agency, so it’s been interesting. And, of course, Lamoriello we hired –Shanny hired — so it’s been a busy summer.

Have you had a chance to catch up with any of the players you’ve selected in Florida? I know Mitch Marner was at that Team Canada tournament a few weeks ago. What is your assessment been of the players you picked in June?
We like our draft, but every team after the draft loves their players. We have to develop now, and that’s just as important as drafting. We have to make sure we keep getting these young kids better. It’s been good. They’ve been to our development camp, we’ve talked to them, they know what they have to do, and hopefully they buy in.

We know Mitch Marner has plenty of skills, Mark, but – talking to the layman or casual sports fan – how would you describe Mitch Marner as a hockey player?
He’s high-end skill. I saw him out at the U20s in Calgary, and the way he put a show on the one game. He’s very creative. He’s a guy — I always sum up Mitch Marner as a hockey player – he makes other people better.

Is Mitch a project? Because he seems to me like the kind of guy, if you had to, you could plug him in and he’ll play and produce for you.
We’re in the business here of slow and steady and making sure we take the proper steps for our players. That said — yes, he’s a player that can push in training camp here. We’ll see what happens, and take the right approach for Mitch Marner.

What’s it like to be at the table with Lou Lamoriello, Mike Babcock, now Jacques Lemaire, Kyle Dubas, DJ Smith – the list goes on and on. You must feel pretty honoured to share the Leafs brand and be the caretakers of this organization with so many legends, so many people who have done incredible things in this game.
Yeah, exactly. We’re pretty happy – I’m pretty happy – to be part of that group we’ve put together to make the Leafs better. That’s why we have good people around. We’ve got a big, big task ahead of us to continue to improve the Toronto Maple Leafs.

How has joining the Maple Leafs and running that draft and being able to select the players you have reinvigorated your love for the game?
It’s just a little bit different. I’ve watched higher-end hockey. You watch junior A games, and pro games; I was watching more minor midget games. It’s more interesting from my standpoint, but, you know what, I love watching hockey. It’s what I love to do. This is just a higher level and even more interesting.

You’ve drafted Mitch Marner twice, at the OHL Priority Selection and at the NHL Entry Draft. Was there any back and forth, perhaps some disagreement, over whether Mitch should be that fourth pick? We’ve heard Noah Hanifin was a guy that was bandied about, or perhaps the Leafs would’ve traded down just to accrue more picks. Is more made of that than there actually should be based on the fact that you took Mitch at four? Or was this a situation where there was a lot of conversation before that pick was made?
Well, we all challenge ourselves. There’s always some speculation. More important, we drafted Mitch Marner and he’s our guy, but we challenged ourselves to ensure we’re doing the right thing. That’s part of the business. Other scouts may have liked someone else from another area, so we’re going to look at every area – [be it] Finland, Sweden – we’re going to make sure we do get the proper pick. We all came to the conclusion that we like Mitch Marner and so we drafted him.

The season’s getting close — what does the Leafs’ Director of Player Personnel do now?
It slows down for the next couple weeks. We’re just getting scouts in order, what scouts we want, making sure the direction of the scouts; they know what they’re doing and where they’re going for the upcoming year.

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