How Will the Toronto Maple Leafs Goaltending Look After Free Agency?

The Wildcard

Chris Driedger is that of what no one really knows what will happen with. He’s played fantastic the past two years in Florida and exceeded expectations. Really, he’s done everything except for win in playoffs. Sounds familiar right?

Driedger posted a .927% save percentage this past season and played even better than his counterpart Sergei Bobrovsky while still making less than 10% of Bobrovsky’s salary.

Now if he’s such a good option, why doesn’t Florida keep him right? Well, Florida has $10 million locked up in Bob for each of the next 5 seasons and cannot afford to spend any more on another guy who’s going to do that same job even better than Bob.

Not even to mention the fact that Florida has the 20-year-old Spencer Knight ready to step up to the NHL. There is simply no room on that team for another goalie, so unless Florida can find some way to move on from Bob without kicking themselves in the stomach, then Driedger is on his way out via free agency.

Now the contract  Driedger gets is something that is hard to say. It’s hard to find a real comparison. The guy came into the NHL as a regular not even two seasons ago, but has been nothing but superb since entering.

The only scenario I see playing out realistically is the ‘do it again’ type of contract. Prove that he can continue to play at that level, and then even further that into playing in the playoffs.

A one or two-year deal could make sense for him and the Leafs. Driedger would certainly come in at a higher price than the others mentioned previously – $3.5 million, maybe even 4 at the highest simply because of his performance the last two years? But if that’s what we’re paying for a goalie like Driedger, I’m happy with it.

Driedger is someone who controls his own destiny here and I’m certain at the right price point, the Toronto Maple Leafs would be interested.

Now to close this out, is this to say that Frederik Andersen is 100% gone from the Leafs? No. That is still very much a possibility and one that has been rumored to be in discussions.

Who will share the net with Jack Campbell come September? Well, we’ll have to stay on our toes to find out and it will certainly be interesting to see what happens this offseason.