The Toronto Maple Leafs Add Another Goalie to the Depth Chart

The Toronto Maple Leafs have continued to add further goaltending to the organization, with  latest recruit Dylan Ferguson coming on as a professional try-out.

Dylan Ferguson comes across to the Toronto Maple Leafs on a professional try-out contract (per CapFriendly) having spent the last few years with the Vegas Golden Knights.

However, the big question is where exactly he fits with Toronto if they end up inking him to a contract beyond this try-out.

Right now, the NHL roster is set with summer recruits Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov, while Erik Kallgren and Joseph Woll are expected to back-stop the Toronto Marlies, along with Hobey Baker winner Dryden McKay.

Toronto Maple Leafs: You Can’t Have Enough Depth

Of course, this is saying nothing about Dylan Ferguson’s ability; his record in the WHL was impressive enough.

Interestingly, he has a better record in the AHL than he did in his time playing ECHL hockey; a 0.916 save percentage and 2.51 goals against average through 16 career AHL games suggests he has some level of talent. (stats from hockeydb.com).

For comparison, Erik Kallgren has a 2.98 goals against average and 0.906 save percentage in 28 career games played for the Toronto Marlies; likewise Joseph Woll has worse statistics in Marlies colours with a 0.890 save percentage and 3.61 goals against average in 62 AHL games.

This immediately suggests that Ferguson would be a good fit with the Toronto Maple Leafs   playing a role in the AHL. However, to do so means giving up on internally developed talents like Kallgren and Woll, who both showed decently in short NHL stints last campaign.

Likewise, the Leafs have brought McKay into the organization too, which mustn’t be overlooked given how highly-rated he was in college hockey.

Perhaps this move is about putting some pressure on the guys already on the Toronto Maple Leafs depth chart or perhaps it’s a deal that allows Ferguson a little scope to spotlight himself.

In fact, it could even be a move designed to guard the Toronto Maple Leafs somewhat; after all Kyle Dubas knows better than most General Managers what it’s like to lose multiple goaltenders once the time for waiving players hits.

It’s somewhat of a strange decision to fathom really; the Toronto Maple Leafs as an organization have two decent NHL options, three viable AHL guys and certainly at least the one ECHL option in Keith Petruzzelli.

Should they end up inking Dylan Ferguson to a contract, it really has to be an AHL-only deal; adding another goalie on an NHL deal right now seems like a foolish waste of a contract on a team two shy of it’s contract limit.

While it is only a professional try-out deal at this moment in time, adding Dylan Ferguson to an already busy goaltending group seems is a real head-scratcher.