Just Who Is The Latest Toronto Maple Leafs Back-Up Goalie?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have ended up in an unfortunate goaltending situation with three injuries at the same time, forcing them to sign their AHL goalie, Keith Petruzzelli, to an NHL contract.

Losing Ilya Samsonov meant the Toronto Maple Leafs were calling on Erik Kallgren to step up versus Carolina, and with Joseph Woll and Matt Murray still out, it was Petruzzelli on the bench as backup.

He marks yet another player that has graduated from an AHL-only deal to an NHL contract since Kyle Dubas took over as General Manager.

Truly a marker of a three-tier development system, this comes after Petruzzelli cemented his value as starting goalie for the Newfoundland Growlers last season.

Toronto Maple Leafs Might Have A Winner In Keith Petruzzelli

The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t have the best track record when it comes to drafted and developed goaltending. Thankfully for them, they didn’t draft their newly-signed backup.

Instead, Keith Petruzzelli was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings back in the third round (88th overall) of the 2017 Draft after winning the Dave Peterson Award as USA Hockey Junior Goalie of the Year.

He opted the college route for his development, impressing in his four years with Quinnipiac University, named NCAA (ECAC) Goaltender of the Year as well as a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award in 2021.

Ultimately, the pipeline in Detroit was pretty clogged and Petruzzelli went the free agent route signing an AHL-only deal with the Toronto Marlies.

From there, the Toronto Maple Leafs opted to give him plenty of playing time out in Newfoundland, where he found himself earning recognition on the ECHL All-Rookie Team and Second All-Star Team last year.

All this the result of serving up a 2.01 goals against average, with a 0.927 save percentage through his 23 games with the Growlers.

He didn’t hold quite as firm in the play-offs, but still got the job done well enough to see the Growlers through 19 games.

Progressing this summer to the Toronto Marlies, Petruzzelli has started the season with 6 wins, a 2.31 goals-against-average and a 0.922 save percentage (statistics from Elite Prospects).

These underlying numbers ultimately meant that the Toronto Maple Leafs showed limited hesitation in inking him to an NHL deal when the need arose.

Honestly with his strong AHL form, he might very well be a dark-horse to impress in a limited NHL stay, especially as the team would likely want to rally around their rookie as best they can.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will certainly be hoping that the Red Wings’ loss can be their gain. Right now, his trajectory has plotted a steady course with impressive results at every step.

Hopefully, if Petruzzelli is called upon to don the Toronto Maple Leafs jersey in game action, he can continue to impress.