Goaltending must become Leafs’ priority
It’s time for the Toronto Maple Leafs to get moving.
All the attention surrounding the Leafs since their season abruptly ended in early May has been centred on the future of Mitch Marner. Once in a while, you’ll hear talk about how they should prioritize adding a defenceman or two this summer.
But internally, the focus should be elsewhere because there’s a bigger need to fill, and the best candidate for the job was just scooped up by the coach they fired a few weeks ago.
The New Jersey Devils landing veteran goaltender Jacob Markström should have sent alarm bells ringing in the Leafs front office. After all, I’m told Toronto was very much in on the Markström sweepstakes and the Calgary Flames netminder, who had a full no-trade clause, would have waived it for a move to the Leafs.
Instead, the ideal trade candidate heads to a conference rival in Sheldon Keefe’s Devils. The fact that he was acquired for an underwhelming and affordable package of a top-10 protected first-round pick and 23-year-old defenceman Kevin Bahl, while Calgary eats a third of his salary, makes it look worse.
Now the Leafs are left wondering where to turn next in goal — and they’re running out of options.
Building a championship team starts from the net out, and the last time the Leafs had a bona fide star goalie would have been with 40year-old Ed Belfour in the 2005-06 season. Since he left, dozens of goaltenders have taken the crease in Toronto, but not a single one — with the exception of Ilya Samsonov last spring — has been effective enough to lead them past the first round of the playoffs. Most weren’t good enough to help them make the playoffs.
As Samsonov seems to have been quietly kicked to the curb of free agency, the options to replace him are slim.
It’s clear the current management team, led by general manager Brad Treliving, really likes Joseph Woll. And what’s not to like? He’s a prototypical goaltender of today’s game: athletic and young with great size at six-foot-three.
Woll stepped in for Samsonov in the series against Boston and was nearly invincible, with a 0.86 goalsagainst average and .964 save percentage in parts of three games. “I feel pretty safe when he’s in net; I trust him a lot,” forward Matthew Knies said after Game 5.
But after Woll went down with two freakish injuries this past season — including one in Game 6 of the first round — it must be a cause for concern.
The 25-year-old Woll has shown signs of being a great young goalie who can perform under pressure, but he’s still missing two key ingredients for success: experience and the ability to stay healthy. With an organization in “must win now” mode, he can’t be trusted to be their No. 1 goaltender just yet.
The Leafs need to commit 30 starts to Woll and pair him with an experienced veteran who has leadership skills and character, and instills trust and confidence in the team in front of him. There’s no time to develop a goalie into a No. 1 and hope for the best like they tried with Samsonov, which is where their aggressiveness on the trade market becomes essential.
In a weak free-agent goalie class, the Leafs can’t take a chance on career backups Laurent Brossoit or Anthony Stolarz to play 50 games. There is no free-agent angel out there like 26 years ago when the Leafs signed Curtis Joseph.
Instead, the three major goalies garnering attention this off-season have been Markström in Calgary, Juuse Saros in Nashville and Linus Ullmark in Boston. All three would be the biggest name to take over the Leafs’ starting role in a very long time.
With two years remaining on his deal, 34-year-old Markström would have been the ideal candidate to buy some time for Woll to continue developing alongside him, but the Leafs swung and missed on that one.
Treliving is rumoured to be in on just about every trade candidate we hear about, but crossing the goalline to get a deal done is another story. Falling short on the Markström trade hurts the Leafs, but it doesn’t have to ruin their off-season.
Saros, 29, and Ullmark, 30, have one year remaining on their contracts. They aren’t as likely to be traded as Markström was, but could certainly be had at the right price. Treliving needs to go out and make an offer they can’t refuse before somebody else does.
What adds to the challenge will be the number of teams in the same boat. The Los Angeles Kings were in on the goalie hunt and went off the board to upgrade there by acquiring Darcy Kuemper from the Washington Capitals shortly after the Markström news broke. The Ottawa Senators, who were also in on Markström, are looking hard for a goalie they believe will make the difference in their ability to contend for the Cup. Other clubs, including the Carolina Hurricanes, are likely searching, too.
“Everything needs to be looked at. Everything needs to be considered,” Treliving said at his end-ofseason presser.
Looking will only get you so far. Other teams are getting things done on the goaltending front; the Leafs need to be aggressive and do the same.
They’ve been goalied more than enough times by playoff opponents in recent seasons. It’s time to go out and get someone who can turn the tables.