Toronto Marlies Notebook: The Goaltending Edition

Welcome to the next installment of the Toronto Marlies Notebook. If you like goalie talk, then this is the notebook for you. Let’s jump right in.

Do me a favour. Visualize who you believe the five best goaltenders in the entire NHL are. Regardless of who you chose, I can guarantee you that around ¾ of them were drafted after the 1^st round. Don’t believe me? Just watch.

I’m so sorry.

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Did you picture Braden Holtby? The Capitals netminder happens to be a former Vezina Trophy winner and current NHL record holder for highest postseason save percentage. Pretty good, right? Well, he was a 4^th round pick.

Maybe you picked reigning Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky. All 31 NHL teams can’t say the same because he went undrafted. Now, a popular choice could also be Pittsburgh’s netminder Matt Murray. He’s fresh off winning his second consecutive Stanley Cup, all while remaining eligible for the Calder Trophy. That’s nuts and becomes all the more impressive with the realization that he was selected in the 3^rd round. Pretty crazy, right?

Why Does this Matter?

The overwhelming response to last week’s notebook centred around one singular question: Why didn’t I tackle the Marlies’ confusing goalie situation?

It was certainly a valid request, especially in light of the Calvin Pickard acquisition from earlier that same week. However, there happened to be a distinct reason for why I refrained from diving into this topic. It’s because goalies are voodoo.

Crowded Crease

If the NHL’s top netminders being late round picks tells us anything, it’s that patience is required to generate an informed assessment. Especially for a goaltender. So, before I delved into the Marlies current situation, I wanted to avoid making that mistake.

Garret Sparks, Kasimir Kaskisuo, and Calvin Pickard all happen to still be in the midst of their development. Basing their potential solely on their prior AHL or ECHL performance would not only be unfair to them, but also to you, the reader.

Instead, they should be awarded the opportunity to demonstrate their progress. It’s for this reason that I chose to withhold my judgment until each of them had started a minimum of one game.

Thanks to a jam-packed weekend in which the team played three games in three nights, the time for judgment has now come. You would think, with there being a recent body of evidence now, that the crowd in the Marlies crease would begin to dissipate. Not so fast, guys.

The good news is that the Marlies are now 4-1. This places them 1^st in the North Division, which is, as the kids say, dope. Such success can be attributed, in part, to strong performances from each of their goaltenders. The bad news is that this success has, in turn, made the goalie situation a heck of a lot more complicated for Leafs management.

Well, if your name isn’t Kyle Dubas or Lou Lamoriello, then I guess it’s not really “bad news”. So, how did each goalie stack up?

Calvin Pickard

Aided by Curtis McElhinney’s shaky season debut on Wednesday night, Leafs Nation is clamouring for Pickard to assume the Leafs backup role. Performing in limited duty for the Colorado Avalanche across the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, Pickard posted save percentages of .932 and .922 respectively. Those are incredibly solid numbers, albeit from a small sample size.

Remember what I said about being patient in your judgment? It definitely applies here. Pickard simply cannot be judged on his performance from 2016-17. No Avalanche player can.

Suiting up behind a D corps like Colorado’s from last year should be grounds to sue the NHL for emotional distress. A plague of injuries forced Pickard into starting 50 games, which was far and away from his career high. When the dust settled, he wound up with a measly .904 save percentage. Not great, right?

Here’s the thing, though. NO ONE would have posted respectable numbers on that team. After that dumpster fire, it’s a miracle Joe Sakic is still legally allowed to even watch a hockey game on TV, let alone run a team. This brings us to Saturday.

Pickard made his debut against the Providence Bruins, stopping 33 of 35 shots on route to his 1^st Marlies win. I know it’s easy to overhype a new Leafs acquisition, but, dang. He looked good.

Pickard more than impressed, exhibiting poise and composure befitting of an NHL goaltender. To jump into game action directly after being waived is no easy task. And yet, he answered the bell.

If I were you, and I’m not, I would begin to think of Pickard as the Leafs backup. We’ve seen what McElhinney can do, making it really only a matter of time before Pickard takes over. The Marlies crease is currently far too crowded, meaning something’s got to give. Pickard happens to be the most NHL-ready goalie on the roster. Let’s see what he can do.

Kasimir Kaskisuo

Let’s talk about Kasimir Kaskisuo, International Man of Mystery™. He consistently flies under the radar in any conversation pertaining to Leafs prospects. Thankfully, that’s due to change very soon.

I had the privilege of observing Kaskisuo in action while covering the Maple Leafs Rookie Tournament. As the weekend progressed, I was continually blown away by the young puck stopper’s net presence.

One way to gauge the underlying performance of a goaltender is to compare how his team performs when he’s between the pipes, versus when he’s not. With Kaskisuo in net, the Leafs rookies were flying, consistently forcing the puck up the ice. It seemed as if Kaskisuo’s presence had provided them with the confidence to take offensive risks.

However, once Kaskisuo was replaced, everything changed. The baby Leafs looked timid, as breaking out of their own end soon became impossible. It’s a small sample size, but players seem to gain confidence when they play in front of Kaskisuo. That’s a promising sign.

Fortunately, this translated into his performance on Sunday, as the Marlies squeaked out a 2-1 victory against the Springfield Isotopes Thunderbirds. Kaskisuo was exemplary, stopping 26 of 27 shots. Such a performance has only made the Marlies crease that much more crowded.

What we’re witnessing here is a young player slowly but surely moving his way up the depth chart. Don’t be shocked if, before you know it, Kaskisuo makes the move from Ricoh to the ACC. Or Scotiabank arena. Whatever they’re planning on calling it.

Garret Sparks

Boy, oh boy. Now, THIS is a peculiar prospect. It feels like Sparks has been a Leafs prospect since I was in grade school. I’ve always held a soft spot for him as, for some unexplained reason, the Leafs organization seemed to shun him in favour of the dearly departed Antoine Bibeau.

Sparks has been the best Marlies goaltender since the Drew McIntyre Era. In spite of this, he has never been trusted with full-time starting duties. Why is that? It could be due to him getting injured as often as I daydream about Auston Matthews.

With Bibeau gone, Sparks has finally been trusted with starting duties. In fact, he started both games on opening weekend, earning the win in each contest. This occurred despite goaltenders rarely suiting up in back to back games. Such a workload clearly shows that Sheldon Keefe is granting Sparks every opportunity to succeed. It’s now up to him to prove whether or not he can.

Although the Marlies gave up five goals to Hartford on Friday, Sparks was not entirely at fault, with two being empty netters. Regardless, Sparks was tasked with the loss and in the process showed some characteristic signs of struggle. He is an incredibly streaky goaltender, going on wild runs where he seems invincible, only to follow it up with a string of duds. In order to be an NHL goalie, that needs to change.

Sparks is no longer a fresh-faced prospect. He’s 24 years old and sooner or later he’s going to need to present a convincing case for full-time NHL employment. No Marlies player has more riding on this season than Sparks does. Only time will tell whether or not he’s up to the challenge.