Hanson a late bloomer

New Maple Leaf Christian Hanson isn't a budding prospect with fond memories from draft day.

"I was extremely disappointed," he recalls of being passed over by the NHL as a teenager.

"The worst part of it was the NHL had camera crews in my house. They ended up making a TV show out of it. Aside from the fact I didn't get drafted - which was a pretty big bummer to begin with - from the next year on ... before the game of the week there'd be an NHL draft special and half of it would be about me."

Hanson, now 23 with a Notre Dame education to fall back on, was signed as a free agent to a two-year entry level contract by the Maple Leafs yesterday.

"It's almost like getting a free first-round draft pick," said Leafs coach Ron Wilson.

Hanson wasn't drafted in 2005 despite being ranked 66th among North American skaters by NHL's Central Scouting. Instead, as a heavily recruited centre, he joined the Fighting Irish.

Oddly enough for a son of one of the famed Hanson brothers, Christian wasn't tough enough.

Not at first anyway.

A classic late bloomer, it was in Hanson's junior year, after finally following through on coach Jeff Jackson's urging to play more physical around the net - something you'd expect from a 6-foot-4, 230-pounder - that he burst out with some decent production.

He scored 13 goals, picked up 22 points, and demonstrated he might be able to take his game to a higher level.

"I prodded him for two years to get him to play with a little bit more jam," recalled Jackson yesterday.

"He came in and he relied on his skill and a kid that size is going to be challenged, so he had to learn to play with a little bit more edge to his game from an offensive perspective. He had a tendency to sit back and play more on the perimeter and I really pushed him hard to try to get more involved."

Hanson finished with 16 goals and 31 points in 37 games in his senior year, totals aided by Jackson's decision to use him as a big man in front of the net on power plays.

Six of his goals came on the power play.

"We watched a lot of film of (Detroit's) Tomas Holmstrom and tried to get an idea how (Hanson) could use his reach and his size and his hands in tight, and he did a really good job of that," said Jackson.

But there is no guarantee his growth as a player in South Bend, Ind., will translate into success in the NHL.

But the fact the Leafs are aggressively pursuing college free agents such as Hanson, University of Denver's Tyler Bozak and defenceman Matt Gilroy, once Boston University's season is over, can only be viewed as a positive.

Especially when Hanson chose Toronto ahead of at least a half dozen other suitors.

"If you sign two or three college players and one of them develops to the point where he's good enough to contribute at the NHL level, it's a real bonus," said Leafs advisor Cliff Fletcher, who had three college free agents - Jamie Macoun, Colin Patterson and Joel Otto - on his Calgary team when the Flames won the Stanley Cup in 1989.

Jackson believes Hanson has a "legitimate chance" to make it as an NHLer "if he can get that mental toughness to be a consistent thing for him."

Though Wilson said patience will be important - "Christian is not going to come in and play five games and score 15 goals or points" - an indication of his potential will come when he makes his debut, possibly as early as Friday in Philadelphia against the Flyers.