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Toronto Maple Leafs: Looking Into Every Option with Freddie Andersen

By Jordan Maresky

Jul 13, 2020; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas (left) and president Brendan Shanahan (right) watch a NHL workout at the Ford Performance Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 13, 2020; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas (left) and president Brendan Shanahan (right) watch a NHL workout at the Ford Performance Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 10, 2021; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen(31)   Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 10, 2021; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen(31)   Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports /

The Toronto Maple Leafs have gotten off to an incredible start to their 2020-21 season.

Sitting at 11-2-1 atop the North Division and the NHL standings, all things seem to be breaking right for this Toronto Maple Leafs team right now. Save for a stretch of bad luck injuries to locker room favourites Joe Thornton, Jack Campbell, and Wayne Simmonds, and rookie wunderkind Nick Robertson, it is hard to not love the first 14 games of the season so far.

A large portion of Toronto’s current success has to do with the bounce-back play of goaltender Frederik Andersen. He experienced his first down season with the Leafs in 2019-20, resulting in management glancing at the free-agent and trade markets for potential netminder replacements.

Ultimately, Frederik returned for his fifth season as the Leafs starter, but questions remained if Andersen would be able to prove the 2.85 goals-against average and the .909 save percentage he posted in 52 games last season was just a fluke.

After all, there is no other way to examine it: from January 1st, 2020 until the end of the regular season, Andersen was awful. Out of the 66 goalies to start at least five games during that 10-week period, Andersen had the fourth-worst 5v5 goals-against average of 3.16 and the fifth-worst 5v5 save-percentage of .897. Similarly, he had the sixth-worst goals saved above expected of -8.23. (stats; naturalstattrick, evolving-hockey).

But through his 12 starts so far this season, Andersen is looking like the elite starting goaltender then-former Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello traded for almost five years ago.

Posting the second-best goals saved above expected at 5v5 through the early going (only behind Andrei Vasilevskiy), along with a 1.81 GAA and a .936 SVP, the 2021 offseason represents an interesting career point for the first-time free agent.

Is he looking to re-sign with his current franchise? Was Kyle Dubas indicating his motivation to move on from Andersen based on last offseason’s inquiries? Let’s take a look at some possible scenarios that could play out over the next few months.

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