Brown flying under radar in Leafs' impressive rookie class Connor Brown has scored 19 goals and added 16 assists in 77 games this season, yet the 23-year-old is often forgotten among the Toronto Maple Leafs rookie class.

Kristen Shilton TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter Follow|Archive

BUFFALO – For Connor Brown, the 2016-17 season started in the Toronto Maple Leafs weight room.

He and fellow rookie Zach Hyman spent all summer in there, willing themselves to gain any advantage they could before what they knew would be a challenging training camp with an indeterminate number of first-year spots available. So Brown did what he does best – he worked. And worked.

Back then, the possibility of a 20-goal season, of which he is now on the cusp with five games left in the regular season, was a far cry from Brown’s driving motivation – don’t get cut.

“The beginning of the season it was about cracking the club. That was my only goal,” Brown said Sunday at HarborCenter in Buffalo. “All summer [Hyman and I] worked hard. We knew what was at stake. It was such a competitive camp this year and we took is so serious. It was good to have Zach in the gym, he pushes the pace and it was nice to have him push me too.”

Brown ended up one of six rookies on Toronto’s opening night roster, the third-oldest among them at 22. It may have seemed like a gamble by Mike Babcock to ship veteran forwards like Brooks Laich and Colin Greening down to the AHL and ice such an inexperienced club, but Babcock saw the growth potential in Brown from the get-go.

“It started last summer and he continued to get stronger,” Babcock said. “His hockey sense is elite, his skating is way better because of his work ethic. He has great determination, good stick, use him [anywhere], play him against the best players. The physical strength is going to keep coming - he’s still not a big enough man for his frame, he can really fill out – but you don’t have to beg him to play hard, he’s energized.”

Energy isn’t hard to come by for the Maple Leafs now, on or off the ice. Toronto has climbed the standings to sit third in the Atlantic Division as the regular season is winding down, firmly ensconced in a playoff position few truly believed they could attain six months ago.

Turns out, it took some time for the guys in the room to buy it too.

“I think a lot of us being rookies, we weren’t sure what to expect, we weren’t sure what kind of team we had,” Brown said. “We were jumping out to a ton of leads at the start of the year but once we started to believe in what we had in the locker room it all started to click. We started being patient and that’s resulted in more wins.”

Brown has needed some patience of his own navigating the last couple of years. After posting 128 points playing on Connor McDavid’s wing with the OHL’s Erie Otters, Brown spent most of the last two seasons with the AHL’s Marlies waiting for his NHL chance. He thought he’d get it early last year, but an ankle injury in late October sidelined him for three months. Brown would get in just seven games for the Maple Leafs, tallying a goal and five assists.

With 19 goals and 16 assists in 77 games so far in this campaign, Brown isn’t satisfied with his first taste of success, nor would he be placated by a 20-goal benchmark. Brown would be the third Maple Leafs rookie to reach the pinnacle, after Auston Matthews and William Nylander, underscoring how dominant this class has been offensively.

“It would be cool to get to that point, but with so much at stake here down the stretch and the race being so tight, that’s what on my mind,” he said. “At this point it’s about getting better every night – we talked about that today, how everyone has to find more. It’s a grind now with everything so tight so everything can be ramped up.”

Toggling between Nazem Kadri and Matthews’ wing all season has put Brown in the company of elite goal scorers and helped to improve his own playmaking abilities. But with Matthews, Mitch Marner and Nylander busy re-writing Toronto’s rookie record books, Brown has slid under the radar in what has been an excellent campaign in its own right - not that it bothers him much.

“I don’t need the spotlight or anything like that,” Brown said. “[Matthews, Marner and Nylander] are three elite players and what they’ve been able to do in their first year has been incredible. They deserve all the spotlight they can get.”

That limelight stands to increase even further around the Maple Leafs in what could be their first playoff berth in a non-lockout season since 2003-04. Brown, a Toronto native, has been basking in the buzz around the city at the prospect, and how it would reward a group that’s stuck together through the season’s ups and downs to be playing their best hockey when it counts the most.

“I think a lot of guys are just enjoying it – I know I am,” Brown said of the playoff push. “You play better when you’re loose and relaxed. It’s been good for us. A lot of the older guys are nice influences in the dressing room and they’re accepting about holding everyone accountable but they’re also not too hard on guys so it’s allowed everyone to try and play their best.”