3 Questions About the Toronto Maple Leafs Goaltending
By Mike Jack
Can the Toronto Maple Leafs Re-Sign Jack Campbell?
It could be the most bittersweet event in Toronto Maple Leafs history… Imagine if Jack Campbell wins the Vezina trophy but signs with another team in the offseason.
A Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender hasn’t won a Vezina since 1965 which was before the award was determined by a vote. It would feel amazing to see Jack Campbell win the award, but it would be devastating to lose him for nothing.
Toronto has to re-sign him, right?
It’s mind boggling to look at last season’s Vezina nominees and realize that both winner, Marc-Andre Fleury, and nominee, Philipp Grubauer, changed teams during the offseasons. They were two of the best goalies in the NHL. How can they be that expendable?
If the Toronto Maple Leafs manage to re-sign Jack Campbell, they’ll have to continue to do some cap gymnastics.
The cap is expected to go up by about $1 million next season and the Maple Leafs will finally lose the $1.2 million in dead cap they’re still paying Phil Kessel, however, Morgan Reilly will get a raise of $2.5 million starting next season while Rasmus Sandin, Timothy Liljegren, Ondrej Kase, Pierre Engvall and Joseph Woll will be RFA’s with Jason Spezza, Ilya Mikheyev and Kirill Semyonov being UFA’s.
Jack Campbell has said he wants to stay in Toronto. He seems like a friendly guy who may make a team friendly deal, but unless it’s ridiculously friendly, there’s going to have to be some significant player movement to make it work since he’s worth a lot more than the $1.65 million he’s earning now.