LEAFS NOTES: Gilmour-Marner connection now long distance

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From the moment a young Mitch Marner stepped on the ice as a Maple Leaf, the Doug Gilmour comparisons began.

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Of similar height and weight, both 100-point playmaking OHL juniors, strong defensively, hard to hit, they were also linked by sweater No. 93, which Mitch wore in London in homage to his father Paul’s favourite Leaf. In his current role as a club ambassador, Gilmour saw Marner up close many times.

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“I’ve been a big fan of Mitch’s from the very beginning,” Gilmour told the Toronto Sun on Wednesday. “One of my favourite players to watch. He’s come a long way.”

While Marner trails only Gilmour in franchise post-season assists — 60 to 50 — it was playoff intangibles that clearly separate them. The Gilmour-led Leafs of the 1990s played in two conference finals and eight different series in four years, while Marner never got past the second-round in nine seasons.

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It’s a big reason Gilmour — and everyone else in these parts — will have to watch Marner from afar as a Vegas Golden Knight. Seeing him wear a mustard-toned 93 — digits he couldn’t have in Toronto as it was retired for Gilmour — will take some getting used to.

“It’s going to be hard days for Leaf fans to see him,” predicted the 62-year-old Gilmour. “He’s a guy that can play everywhere in your lineup: Power play, penalty killing and he can get you 100 points.

“But it’s the business, right? And sometimes the business is not fun. Hey, I played for seven different teams (St. Louis, Calgary, Toronto, New Jersey, Chicago, Buffalo and Montreal). My young daughter would be worried sometimes and say ‘Dad, they say you’re no good’, but I’d tell her ‘Somebody else will always want you.’ ”

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Marner left for Vegas with an eight-year, $96 million US deal, agreed to in his final hours as a Maple Leaf. But barring a Leafs-Knights Stanley Cup final, he will be back in town only once a season.

TAKING CANCER FIGHT TO THE STREETS

Players will insist the most under-rated members of a team are its equipment managers.

“One hundred per cent,” said Gilmour. “You just look at all the hours they put in during the day. And at night, when we’d get off a plane and able to go right to bed, they’re on their way to the rink to get our stuff ready.”

It was a jolt to many Leafs and former NHLers to learn a decade ago that Scott McKay, Toronto’s long-time equipment man in the Pat Quinn era, had a cancer diagnosis. He has survived, but the battle continues and friends want to help him raise funds and awareness in a big way.

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On Thursday, Gilmour, Curtis Joseph, Shayne Corson, Brad May and Raffi Torres will reveal Street Hockey For The Cure, to benefit the Canadian Cancer Society, the Scott McKay Foundation and the St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation. Proceeds of the Sept. 13-14 tournament near the grounds of the Hotel X at Exhibition Place will go to reducing the financial burden of cancer patients throughout treatment, such as the Wheels For Hope transportation program.

Gilmour knows almost every family has lost someone to the dreaded disease.

“It could be an aunt, an uncle and in my case it was a really good friend. Bob Lavelle. He used to be my marketing guy, who started the NHL player softball tournament in Niagara Falls. They discovered a lump in his shoulder when he wasn’t that old and was gone.

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“We want to be there for Scotty, who has really given back to the community, despite his diagnosis.”

The 3-on-3 tournament is open to ages 13 to 50-plus and includes a special division for first responders. Each team will get to meet Gilmour and the NHLers, while playing on a half-scale rink with dasher boards, netting and volunteer officials

“We’ve done different things like this for Easter Seals and the homeless,” said Gilmour, now a Leaf club ambassador.

Gilmour plays some ball hockey and puts on the blades for charity tournaments.

“I took a year off of skating, then woke up one morning and said: ‘Geez, I really miss it.’ ”

For more information on the tournament, head to www.cancer.ca/streethockeyforthecure

HAK WON’T BE BACK

While everyone at the Ford Centre practice rink got used to seeing Jani Hakanpaa at practice the latter half of last season, he never did play beyond the two mid-season games and two on the farm. Ongoing knee problems mean the Leafs aren’t likely to re-sign him.

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“We talked to him about that (injury) situation at the end of the year,” said general manager Brad Treliving, who’d hoped the lanky Finnish veteran would turn into a bonus addition at playoff time.

Treliving added during his Tuesday free agent wrap-up that he has not closed the door on winger Max Pacioretty’s return, but even if the 36-year-old winger decides to try another year, there’s no guarantee Toronto will be able to accommodate him.

LOOSE LEAFS

The great Red Wing Alex Delvecchio, who passed at 93 this week, ranked second in goals scored against Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens with 62, behind linemate Gordie Howe’s 93. Delvecchio was also third in MLG points, tied with Chicago’s Bobby Hull at 80, behind Howe’s 126 and Boston’s Johnny Bucyk at 87 … This will be Travis Boyd’s second stint in the Leaf organization after signing a one-year deal on Tuesday. Originally a Washington Capital, the centre had eight points in 20 games for Toronto in 2020-21, ending that season in Vancouver. He stayed in the league with Arizona and Minnesota and at age 31 is back  here with a one-year $775,000 US deal … A group of 48 prospects have arrived in Toronto for this week’s development camp. Medicals were Wednesday and on-ice sessions begin Thursday at the Ford Centre.

Lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

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