Toronto Maple Leafs: Does Frederik Anderson Have a Future In Toronto?

Frederik Andersen signed a five-year, 25 million dollar contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on June 20th, 2016.

Frederik Anderson now has two more years left in his contract, but does he have a future with the Toronto Maple Leafs after that ends?

I know the off-season is slow, and there’s not much to talk about. And that’s what’s brought me to this topic.

From signing in 2016 to today, Andersen sits 3rd in most regular season wins as a goaltender with 107. Only behind Braden Holtby and Sergei Bobrovsky. To me, I love that stat. It shows how good he is as a goaltender, however that’s just in the regular season.

He’s been a different story in the playoffs, getting only eight wins and suffering 11 losses in his three years in Toronto. He also had a .911 SV% through that span, which is decent. However, it’s not the best.

The problem?

There’s plenty of reasons why the goaltending was just decent in the recent years. It could be nerves, or it could be a whole lot of other things. However my guess is, it’s the sloppy play of the defense.

The defense core hasn’t been great in the past three years. Although, it did get better after acquiring Jake Muzzin, yet it still wasn’t the best. But now, you look at the defense and think “woah, we can actually do the thing.” And yes, we can.

With Tyson Barrie coming in, they will get a more steadier defense and they’ll have just an overall better d-core. We also don’t have Nikita Zaitsev anymore, which is very nice. But, there’s still the question about Cody Ceci.

Can he perform? Will he be a good fit? And my answer is, I have no idea. Mike Babcock is a very stubborn individual. I can almost guarantee that he will start Ceci in a top-four roll. However, you never know. He could turn out to be the defenseman they never had. But, we’ll get that answer throughout the season.

But after rambling on about the defense, there’s still the question of, “will Anderson get re-upped after next season?” My answer is: maybe.

If he continues to put up the numbers he has, then I would think he would get another deal. But to fit, it would have to be one that he gets paid less for. By the time his contract is up, he’ll be 31. That’s old, but goalies still perform well at that age.

For reference; Mark-Andre Fleury. He gets paid seven million dollars per year, but you also have to remember, he’s a three-time Stanley Cup Champion and he also took Vegas there last year.

But, if Anderson wants to get that money, he’s going to have to do a lot. Such as playing very well in the regular season, and especially the playoffs. And if he can do that, and make history in Toronto, he’s expected to have another big pay day.