Toronto Maple Leafs: Vegas May Offer Solution If Goalies Underwhelm

The Toronto Maple Leafs head into this season with Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov in net. If they underwhelm, the Golden Knights may have the solution.

In an even more significant salary cap bind than the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas will be playing the majority of their season without first-choice goalie Robin Lehner.

That leaves them with Logan Thompson, who hasn’t yet been tested across a full campaign and Laurent Brossoit, who will also potentially start the year on injured reserve.

Here is where they become potentially useful to the Leafs. The Golden Knights just acquired Adin Hill from the San Jose Sharks, meaning they have four goalies on their roster, albeit two on injured reserve.

How Can This Help the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Quite simply, the Leafs will be relying upon Murray and Samsonov to get the job done in net, especially as their next-best options are Erik Kallgren and Joseph Woll.

However, should one of the Leafs first-choice NHL goalies go down injured or simply not prove up to par, the Golden Knights may at some point be in a position of need in terms of dealing a goalie just to remain cap-compliant.

This just a short time after the same Vegas Golden Knights had to  pay   an extra player, for the Carolina Hurricanes to take Max Pacioretty off their hands due to their cap mismanagement. In fact, it makes the Leafs’ cap compliance concerns look incredibly small in comparison. (With not a single bad contract on the roster, the Leafs are actually in good shape).

All of this ultimately means that one of Brossoit, Hill or Thompson may very well end up available at a very cutdown price, out of pure necessity, especially if the Golden Knights find themselves languishing in a position out of contention come January.

Right now, the Vegas Golden Knights are currently $10 million over the salary cap (per CapFriendly) and while Shea Weber and Robin Lehner give them some relief, there’s every chance they’ll be incredibly tight to the cap all season long.

Obviously we’re talking in real worst-case scenarios here for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but let’s not forget that Matt Murray has struggled through some real injury-ravaged campaigns since his two Stanley Cup wins in his debut years with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Certainly, there’s worse options and ones with far less NHL experience out there than the aforementioned Golden Knights trio.

Laurent Brossoit may not have been fantastic for the Vegas Golden Knights last season, but he certainly showed plenty of promise behind Connor Hellebuyck in Winnipeg. Likewise, Adin Hill isn’t a bonafide starter by any stretch but has proven a consistent option in both Arizona and San Jose.

Logan Thompson is probably the least likely to become available, given that his entry-level contract and waiver exempt status makes him so valuable to a cap-tight team such as Vegas.

However, should Lehner seek to return at any point this regular season, the Golden Knights will be hard-pressed to either slide Hill or Brossoit through waivers or not have to trade one of them; something the Toronto Maple Leafs will absolutely be aware of.

The hope will of course be that it doesn’t go south with the new goaltending duo of Murray and Samsonov and any forays into the market aren’t to solve short-term dilemmas, due to the risks attached to the Toronto Maple Leafs signings.

It’s worth keeping an eye on the situation in the desert; it may bear zero relevance to the Leafs but it very also be a very valuable card to play if need be.