Toronto Maple Leafs: The Top 5 Moves of the Kyle Dubas Era

#5. Trading for Jack Campbell

One of the biggest mistakes that Kyle Dubas made was putting Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard on waivers, while keeping Garret Sparks. Obviously, the team didn’t expect that both goaltenders would have been claimed on waivers, but it happened and killed the depth of the organization.

Instead of having a quality back-up goaltender (or two), the team was stuck with Sparks as their second-stringer. Many loved Sparks based on his play during the Toronto Marlies Calder Cup championship run from a few months prior, but he had many flaws that showed up right away at the NHL-level.  Compiling a 3.15 GAA and 0.902 Sv% in 20 games as the back-up, the team had to move on from him immediately.

This is where the acquisition of Jack Campbell comes in, as one of his best moves thus far as G.M. I know it was based off a previous mistake, but getting Campbell was a tremendous addition to the team. Although we’ve yet to see this trade blossom fully, I promise that’ll happen whenever the 2020-21 season starts.

Not only is Campbell’s contract great ($1.6M cap-hit), but he’s proven in 64 career starts that he’s a worthy back-up. Campbell’s numbers are similar to Freddie Andersen’s, registering a career 2.58 GAA and 0.916 Sv% (stats via: hockeydb.com).

This move is higher on the list than maybe some expected, but that’s based on what he’ll provide in the next two seasons. I’m confident that he’ll be a perfect back-up to Andersen and could potentially be the starting goaltender come 2021-22.