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Who Will be the Toronto Maple Leafs New Backup Goalie?

By Michael Mazzei

TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 12: Toronto Maple Leafs Goalie Michael Hutchinson (30) and teammate Goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo (50) warmup in front of the Leafs bench before the regular season NHL game between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs on January 12, 2019 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON. (Photo by Jeff Chevrier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 12: Toronto Maple Leafs Goalie Michael Hutchinson (30) and teammate Goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo (50) warmup in front of the Leafs bench before the regular season NHL game between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs on January 12, 2019 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON. (Photo by Jeff Chevrier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – JANUARY 12: Toronto Maple Leafs Goalie Michael Hutchinson (30) and teammate Goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo (50) warmup in front of the Leafs bench before the regular season NHL game between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs on January 12, 2019 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON. (Photo by Jeff Chevrier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – JANUARY 12: Toronto Maple Leafs Goalie Michael Hutchinson (30) and teammate Goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo (50) warmup in front of the Leafs bench before the regular season NHL game between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs on January 12, 2019 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON. (Photo by Jeff Chevrier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Toronto Maple Leafs enter the 2019-20 season with yet another backup goalie conundrum, this time with two netminders with considerable experience.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Toronto Maple Leafs are nearing the upcoming season with an unsolved mystery of who will be the team’s backup goalie. It seems that this enigma continues to plague the team each year as of late with no clear long-term solution in sight.

Prior to the 2016-17 season, that question appeared to have been solved with the arrival of Jhonas Enroth (remember him?). However, it quickly dissipated as he was traded away just weeks into the season, which eventually led to the team acquiring Curtis McElhinney off waivers. He was a fine addition but could never convince Mike Babcock to give him more starts in an attempt to ease Frederik Andersen’s workload.

This issue continued prior to the start of last season in which the Leafs had three (!) options vying for the role in McElhinney, Calvin Pickard, and Garret Sparks. The latter of the three ended up winning the role but with the benefit of hindsight, Sparks couldn’t make it work as the backup. Not only did the Leafs have to trade for yet another option mid-season in Michael Hutchinson, but Sparks was banished by the team prior to the playoffs and then traded this summer.

So as the new season approaches, the Leafs will have to endure this dilemma once again. This time, the primary candidates for the gig appear to be Hutchinson and Michal Neuvirth, who was signed to a PTO back in July. There are other options currently in the system such as Kasimir Kaskisuo, Ian Scott, and Joseph Woll that are currently less likely to land the role but are worth bringing up.

Without further delay, let’s compare the aforementioned netminders to determine who is the most likely to emerge as the Leafs backup goalie in 2019-20.

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