Eduardo Razo
Goaltending tends to mask or solve a teams problems, and over the past ten years, the Toronto Maple Leafs have looked for a star netminder. They’ve made trades to fix this issue, whether it’s Vesa Toskala or Jonathan Bernier, but neither was a fit.
Finally, on their third attempt, the new Toronto brass made a trade for Frederik Andersen. Thus, ushering in the best deal, the organization has made in the last decade.
Over the last two seasons, Andersen has stabilized the position for Toronto.
Using Goals Saved Above Average (GSAA), Andersen has prevented 16.96 goals this season which doubles his total from last season (8.58). Furthermore, five of his 51 starts would file under Really Bad Start (RBS), and his Quality Start Percentage (QS%) is at .588 which is above-league-average.
How Did it Shake Out?
Andersen gives Toronto a chance to win night in and night out, and it’s no shocker that they are one of the top teams in the league.
Now, some will argue that this is recency bias but look at the previous two trades they made to sure up their woes in net. Toskala had an okay first season in Toronto with a QS% of .563; however, his GSAA was a -9.30 which is his best number during his tenure.
The following season his GSAA went from bad to worse with -27.09, so he was hurting Toronto at this point.
Bernier was a bit better, in his first season he averaged a GSAA of 15.07 in ’13-’14. There was a reason why Toronto collapsed that year and missed the playoffs after he went down with an injury.
Then it went downhill after that as he averaged -3.91 and -8.15 respectively in his last two seasons in Toronto.
With average QS% and unable to prevent a significant about of goals to bail out his team, Bernier became the latest goaltender who failed to cut it in Toronto.
Ask teams like the Philadelphia Flyers what it would mean to have a goaltender who performs at an elite level. For the first time in a long time, Toronto has an undisputed number one center and an undisputed number one goaltender.
That makes the Andersen trade the best of the decade.