Brown an all-purpose forward
Winger much more than a fourth-liner with time on penalty kill, power play
Don’t try to tell Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock that Connor Brown is a good fourth-line player.
“He’s just a good player,” Babcock said Tuesday, a day after the 23-yearold winger played almost 18 minutes, scored his first goal of the season and was named second star as the Leafs beat the Blackhawks 4-3 in overtime.
“I’ve said all along that Connor doesn’t think he’s a fourth-line player. I thought he had good jump (in Monday’s game). He was one of our best players.”
A fourth-line player wouldn’t normally get that much playing time, especially on a club with superb depth on the wing. But Brown racked up the minutes, in part, by playing on the penalty kill (5:09) and the power play (2:32).
He can play with any line and in any situation.
Much of that stems from his hard work and competitive instincts, some of it honed during his playing days in the Greater Toronto Hockey League, where he was coached by his father, Dan.
“I’m not sure if I ever had to learn (hard work) . . . I was always a competitive person and my dad . . . sure, he made sure I was working hard and I was skating hard, but he never pushed,” Brown said.
Not that he singles himself out as anything special when it comes to work, mind you.
“I don’t think I’m working any harder than anyone else, to be honest. We all work as hard as we can, you have to,” said Brown, who was part of the young Marlies’ Magnificent Seven in the GTHL.
Brown and six of his teammates went on to be selected in the 2012 NHL draft. The highest pick was centre Scott Laughton, taken 20th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers. De- fenceman Matt Finn went in the second round, 35th overall, to the Leafs. Brown was picked in the sixth round, 156th overall.
Brown had to battle the perception that he was too small to be a serious NHL player. He was five-foot-six and 160 pounds when he moved from the GTHL to the junior ranks.
“It’s such a marathon to get to the NHL,” he said.
“It’s one thing to get drafted, then it’s harder to take that next step into the NHL. As long as I was having fun with it, that made the difference for me. At the pro level, you have to be so strong, and strength translates into speed.
“But I loved it, it was a lot of fun for me.”
The hard work has paid off on the ice and at the bank. Brown scored 20 goals in his rookie season and parlayed that into a three-year contract extension worth $6.3 million, signed in late August.
While some players find contract negotiations stressful. Brown says he didn’t get too worked up.
“The only stressful part of it was I wanted it to be done before the season,” Brown said.
“I knew it would be, I knew it would be done before camp. It wasn’t what you would call a nervous process . . . it worked out.”