The Toronto Maple Leafs need to make changes but maybe an internal goaltender battle will help increase competition.
The Toronto Maple Leafs starting goaltender is Freddie Andersen, but Jack Campbell should be ready for a huge 2020-21 season.
If you look at some of the best teams in the NHL this season, most of them have relied on a duo instead of one stud goalie.
The old-school days of someone like Martin Brodeur playing 75 games in a season are over and having two balanced goaltenders is the way to go.
When the playoffs start, you usually want one guy to do the job, but that doesn’t necessarily have to happen either. You can still win a Stanley Cup with two having two different starting goaltenders in the playoffs.
Just look at the Pittsburgh Penguins with Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray. They were able to pull it off and there are a few teams this year that are doing the same.
The top three teams in the NHL based on points percentage this season all had a duo-system in net:
- Boston Bruins:
- Tuukka Rask: 26-8-6, 2.12 Goals against average (GAA), .929 save percentage (Sv%)
- Jaroslav Halak: 18-6-6, 2.39 GAA, .919 Sv%
- St. Louis Blues
- Jordan Binnington: 30-13-7, 2.56 GAA, .912 Sv%
- Jake Allen: 12-6-3, 2.15 GAA, .927 Sv%
- Colorado Avalanche
- Philipp Grubauer: 18-12-4, 2.63 GAA, .916 Sv%
- Pavel Francouz: 21-7-4, 2.41 GAA, .923 Sv%
It not only benefits your team to have inner-competition but it’s smart because both goalies are rested for the playoffs. (All stats nhl.com).
Jack Campbell Should Play 35-40 Games Next Season
If the Toronto Maple Leafs want a healthy Andersen and a long playoff-run, they should rest Andersen as much as possible and play Campbell more.
If you looked at Andersen’s stats after a four-month layoff, they were better than ever during the qualifying series. With a 1.84 GAA and .936 Sv%, Andersen was not the reason why the Leafs lost to Columbus.
In Andersen’s first three seasons in Toronto, he played over 60 games and by playoff time, you could tell that he was gassed. He would have a few great games but the majority of his play was sub-par. That’s why he needs a back-up like Campbell to play more and give him time-off throughout the season.
The Leafs struggled with their back-up goaltender before acquiring Jack Campbell from the LA Kings midway through the season.
Campbell only played six games with Toronto, but it was clear that he was a huge upgrade over the other back-ups the Leafs have seen in two seasons.
He’s already 28-years-old and has only played 64 career NHL games, but it feels like Campbell is ready for the next step. In those limited starts, he has a career 2.58 GAA and .916 Sv%, which is very reliable.
His record may be 23-27-1, but 10 of those losses have came in games where he’s only allowed two or less goals.
With so much fire-power on this current Toronto Maple Leafs team, if Toronto scores two or more goals, the team is going to win 80 percent of the time, so his record would be greatly benefited.
Campbell has played over 30 games in a season before so it wouldn’t be a shock to his system to get that action, if not a little more, again this year. The Leafs would really benefit from him playing more, as it would help Andersen out tremendously.
Not only would Freddie’s health improve, but with Andersen set to become a UFA at year’s end, if Campbell performs at a high-degree, he could be looked at as the starter in the 2021-22 season.
The cap isn’t going to rise, so a starting goaltender who only makes $1.65 million would be huge for a team that has $40 million tied up to their ‘Core-Four’ forwards.
Hopefully the Leafs coaching staff believes in a duo-system because no matter who’s in net for this team, they should have a chance to win every night.
Playing both goalies will only increase confidence in the team and benefit both of them as they look for a long playoff run.