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Ben Danford, among the Maple Leafs' top prospects, has joined the Marlies, who will face Cleveland in the AHL's North Division final.
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Published May 11, 2026 • 1 minute read
The end of Ben Danford’s junior career didn’t proceed as he had envisioned.
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But there’s a silver lining for the 20-year-old Maple Leafs prospect.
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The Leafs have assigned the defenceman to the Toronto Marlies, a week after Danford and the Brantford Bulldogs were eliminated in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference final by the Barrie Colts.
The Bulldogs loaded up this season with the goal of winning the OHL title and playing in the Memorial Cup in Kelowna, B.C., and that included acquiring Danford at the end of October from the Oshawa Generals. After sweeping Sudbury and North Bay, the Bulldogs lost in seven games against Barrie.
Danford’s hope in being traded to the Bulldogs was a chance to win an OHL championship. The hunger was heightened after Danford, considered the Leafs top prospect among defencemen, and the Generals lost in each of the previous two years in the OHL final against the London Knights.
“You think about how about fun the playoffs are and everything, but how tough that pill is to swallow to be runner-up,” Danford said to us in March. “There’s definitely a little more fire left in me.”
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After recording 20 points in 45 regular-season games, the right-shooting Danford had three points in 13 playoff games.
In the annual OHL coaches poll, Danford was voted best defensive defenceman and best shot blocker in the Eastern Conference, and finished second in the voting for the best penalty killer.
The Marlies will face off against the Cleveland Monsters in the best-of-five North Division final in the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup playoffs.
Game 1 goes on Thursday in Cleveland.
X: @koshtorontosun
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