Toronto Maple Leafs Reportedly Sign Michael Neuvirth to PTO

With the Toronto Maple Leafs not set to open training camp for over a month, they can begin to prepare for yet another battle for their backup role.

Everyone loves sequels, right? The Dark Knight was better than Batman Begins, Terminator 2 outshone The Terminator, and The Hangover 2 was…uh, let’s just forget I mentioned it.

If you happen to enjoy the second instalment of a series, well, you are in luck! After last year’s training camp saw the trio of Curtis McElhinney, Garret Sparks and Calvin Pickard duke it out for the job of Frederik Andersen‘s understudy, this year promises to bring the thunder once again.

In an interview with Czech outlet iSport released earlier this morning, former Philadelphia Flyers goaltender, Michael Neuvirth confirmed that he has agreed to a professional tryout offer with the Maple Leafs for this coming training camp in the hopes of earning a contract for next season.

And just like that, the battle wages on.

Neuvirth is an interesting addition, given what the Maple Leafs need at the moment.

Outside of the entrenched Andersen, Toronto has a whopping five goaltenders signed to NHL contracts next season, with two – Garret Sparks and Michael Hutchinson – presumably holding the best odds of cracking their big-league roster. Yet, it can’t help be noted that neither project as a thoroughly enticing option.

Recent years have made it abundantly clear that Andersen is in dire need of a true 1B to alleviate his workload throughout the season, and both of Sparks or Hutchinson do not possess recent track records which prove they can do that. Neuvirth’s is not necessarily any better, but he has indeed filled that role at various points during his career and, if he manages to stay healthy, could do it once again.

That last one is a BIG “if”, though.

Neuvirth has battled the injury bug almost constantly throughout his twelve NHL seasons, playing all of seven games for the Flyers this past year thanks to some nagging lower-body ailments. The last time Neuvirth so much as cracked the 30-game barrier came back in the 2015-16 campaign, when the 31-year-old finished with an 18-8-4 record and a dazzling .924 save percentage before tending the crease for three games in the playoffs.

Is Neuvirth the most attractive candidate to compete for the role of Maple Leafs’ backup? Probably not. But with his team entering into a contention year, Kyle Dubas needs a stop-gap option behind Toronto’s franchise goaltender, and Neuvirth has, at the very least, proven himself capable of being one in the past.

Needless to say, all eyes will be on the netminders once again when training camp opens in September.