Luke Haymes does not pretend the math is easy. He just keeps putting the same notes on the door.
“I’m a big Post-it note guy,” Haymes told reporters after Toronto’s 4-3 overtime loss to Ottawa’s prospects at Centre Slush Puppie. “I just throw something on there and then throw it on my wall somewhere I can see it every day and work towards it.”
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They live outside his bedroom door, or on it.
“As I’m leaving, I just look at them.”
A couple of years ago the big one said NHL draft.
“That didn’t go over too well,” he said. This year’s version is simpler and harder: make the Maple Leafs out of camp. “This year’s (goal is) making the NHL.”
Underneath that are the smaller reminders he writes to himself: be a goal scorer, get in and around the net, get low on draws, get your head lower than the other centerman, snap as many draws back as you can. That is the player he is trying to put on tape before main camp, even if the roster math is stacked against him.
Haymes is a 23-year-old centre who signed as an NCAA free agent, put together a solid first full pro season with the Marlies, chipped in on a Calder Cup run and got a brief look with the big club at the end of a lost year. Toronto’s forward depth is still crowded. None of that changed the assignment he gave himself before this weekend.
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He wanted the first game of the Prospect Challenge to look like those notes.
“I just want to show I play a mature game, 200-foot, can put the puck in the net but also can lock things down defensively and really good in the faceoff dot, which I think I did a good job of tonight, but I can always do better.”
The game gave him a stage, if not the result. Sawyer Boulton opened the scoring in the first off a Harry Nansi chance. Ottawa answered on the power play through Kasper Halttunen, then took a 2-1 lead on a Landen Hookey rush. Toronto generated little in the second. The night turned after Timofei Obvintsev robbed a 3-on-0. Haymes tied it 2-2, stuffing home a bouncing puck after Blake Smith’s point shot created traffic, exactly the net-front habit on the door.
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“I don’t remember much,” Haymes said, “but great shot from Smitty. He got it to the net and then it bounced off my chest or shoulder or something and then I just stuffed it in.”
Borya Valis made it 3-2 on a breakaway. Ottawa tied it again. Jaxon Cover won it in overtime. In between, Smith and Djibril Touré dropped the gloves and Landon Sim tangled with Matthew Andonovski. It was the kind of messy, physical Ontario game Haymes said the younger players had to walk into cold.
“It’s a tough game to step into. It’s super aggressive. Everyone’s trying to make a mark and show the staff that they belong. I thought our guys did a good job.”
The end result saw Ottawa tie it in the third and go ont to win in overtime.
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Steve Sullivan used Haymes in every situation, power play, penalty kill, four-on-three, late shifts. “He’s a 200-foot hockey player and it showed tonight,” Sullivan said. “He was part of the power play, part of the penalty kill, right to the end.”
Haymes made his NHL debut last season, where he played in four games and picked up an sssist.
Sunday’s 1 p.m. game against Winnipeg is the last look before the real evaluation starts.
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