At the beginning of the year the Toronto Maple Leafs had Michael Hutchinson penciled in as their 4th string goaltender.
Fast forward to now and Hutchinson has started three of the last four Leafs games and has won two of those three starts while authoring a 2.36 GAA and .924 save percentage. Has Hutchinson suddenly turned into an all-star calibre goaltender? No, he has not. Goalie performances fluctuate wildly – you really don’t ever know what you’re going to get.
Hutchinson has been a nice surprise, but obviously the Leafs can’t depend on him longterm. With Freddie Andersen seemingly headed to free-agency, the Leafs are going to have to decide on whether or not to give him a raise and a contract extending into his mid-thirties, or if they want to sign someone new.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will have the option to move on from Frederik Andersen after this season and sign another goaltender in free agency for much cheaper than what Andersen will command. I have looked over the free agents and came up with a few that I think would fit in nicely with the Leafs.
I am not necessarily considering these goalies to be number one status but a platoon with Jack Campbell next year could be more than sufficient for the Maple Leafs. ( stats courtesy of nhl.com )