One of the most surprising moves the Toronto Maple Leafs have made during the free agency frenzy was trading goaltender Dennis Hildeby.
The 24-year-old was considered a significant part of the Maple Leafs prospect pipeline. But that changed as a confluence of events shifted the organization’s perspective.
Let’s start with the most evident reason. The signing of Sergei Bobrovsky completely changed the organization’s calculus in the crease. The club had already traded Joseph Woll, anticipating the crowded goaltending situation.
Bobrovsky immediately jumps to the top of the goaltending food chain in Toronto. There’s no question he’s the starter. It’s what happened to the pecking order behind him that sent a ripple effect throughout the Maple Leafs organization.
But before sorting out that pecking order, there was another interesting event happening beneath the surface. Artur Akhtyamov had one heck of a season in the AHL. Akhtyamov won the Calder Cup MVP as the Toronto Marlies took home the AHL championship.
That situation pretty much put Akhtyamov ahead of Hildeby in the organization’s depth chart. So, with Akhtyamov as the starter, that pretty much put Hildeby as the backup on the Marlies.
Now, the Maple Leafs’ goaltending food chain was pretty much Bobrovsky, Anthony Stolarz, Akhtyamov, and Hildeby.
But if that wasn’t reason enough to trade Hildeby, there was another crucial reason.
Maple Leafs Risked Losing Hildeby for Nothing
The reality heading into next season was that Hildeby had to clear waivers. And it’s that situation that put the Maple Leafs in a spot where the organization risked losing Hildeby for nothing.
So, that’s why GM John Chayka took advantage of the situation, trading him for a surprisingly solid piece in Nick Paul. Paul serves a critical purpose for the Maple Leafs as a much-needed third-line center.
That was a much better outcome than losing Hildeby for nothing on waivers. There was no chance that the former fifth-round pick was going to go through waivers. As a result, the Maple Leafs did a fantastic job of getting something back in this situation.
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Toronto’s Goaltending Situation Depends on Everyone Staying Healthy
Ultimately, the Maple Leafs goaltending situation depends on everyone staying healthy. While Bobrovsky has never really been injury-prone, Stolarz has. The key difference here is that Stolarz won’t be asked to play the number of games a typical starter would.
In fact, the Leafs can count on Bobrovsky playing over 50 games this upcoming season. That means that Stolarz would only get about 30 starts. That’s perfectly in line with his career numbers.
Without overloading Stolarz, the Maple Leafs could have two starting-caliber goalies sharing the load throughout the season. That’s a tremendous thing that the team never really had in the past.
Yes, the team will need to play solid defense in front of its goalies. But when thinking that a healthy Chris Tanev would shore up the defense, plus a much more defensively reliable bottom six would round out the top-heavy core, the Leafs all of a sudden look like a much different team from a year ago.
While there might still be changes coming down the line, this time is about as good as it’s been in a very long time.
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