The Toronto Maple Leafs have suffered another blow to their goaltending depth as Petr Mrázek left Tuesday’s game with a groin injury during the first period of Tuesday’s 6-4 win over the Boston Bruins.
This is Mrázek’s third groin injury this season, and he’s expected to miss some time. He missed 17 games after his last groin injury, so he may be gone for a month. As I’m writing this there has been no timeline given by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
All-Star goalie, Jack Campbell, has been out of the lineup since March 10th with a rib injury. The initial timeline for Campbell’s return was two weeks, but he’s not going to be rushed to get into a game. The goal is for the Leafs to have Campbell back to 100% before the playoffs in the hope that he’ll return to his all-star form.
With both members of their goaltending tandem on the mend, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be forced to rely on their goaltending depth when they take on the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night and perhaps longer.
(Stats from Capfriendly.com)
Goalie Depth Chart for the Toronto Maple Leafs
Erik Kallgren: Right now, the net belongs to Erik Källgren who entered Tuesday’s game against Boston in relief of Petr Mrázek. Källgren started his stint well with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but has let some of his inexperience show in his last three games with save percentages of .885, .824 and .848 .
Joseph Woll: Joseph Woll has been out of commission since March 2nd after suffering a knee injury while playing for the Toronto Marlies. There’s no timeline for his return.
Michael Hutchinson: The Marlies played late on Tuesday night and got word of Mrázek’s injury before their game. Hutchinson was held out of the game so he could report to the Toronto Maple Leafs. As I’m writing this, there hasn’t been an official call up, but expect him to backup Erik Källgren for the Leafs on Thursday.
Carter Hutton: There’s a lot of mystery surrounding Carter Hutton right now. After missing 44 games with an ankle injury, the Arizona Coyotes placed him on waivers on February 20th, and he was given to the Toronto Maple Leafs the next day. He hasn’t played any hockey since. He’s 36 years old, and I’m wondering if he’s contemplating retirement.
Keith Petruzzelli: Keith Petruzzelli may higher on this depth chart, but he can’t play for the Toronto Maple Leafs right now, because he’s not signed to an NHL contract. He did recently sign an AHL contract and could sign an NHL deal any time, but he would be ineligible for the NHL playoffs. He may have been the top goalie in the ECHL this season and he’s been great with the Marlies so far. He was held out of Thursday game for precautionary reasons.
Ian Scott: I feel terrible for Ian Scott, a once promising prospect who has been plagued with injuries in the worst way. He’s only played one ECHL game this season and it wasn’t pretty.
Artur Akhtiamov and Vyacheslav Peksa: : Akhtiamnov and Peksa are two young prospects progressing well in Russia, but with everything going on with Russia and Ukraine right now, I don’t expect them to be wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs uniform any time soon.
Right now, it looks like Erik Källgren and Michael Hutchinson will play for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. Jack Campbell should be back soon, but if another goalie goes down before he can return, Keith Petruzzelli may go from playing games in the ECHL to the NHL within a couple weeks of each other.