Toronto Maple Leafs: 3 Best Trade Options to Find a New Goalie

The Toronto Maple Leafs currently find themselves in somewhat of a bind when it comes to their goaltending depth chart, especially with Ilya Samsonov now on the injured reserve.

In fact, so dire is the situation for the Toronto Maple Leafs, they had to sign and immediately put last year’s Newfoundland Growlers starting goalie in the backup role.

With injuries affecting the nominal starting and backup goalies, Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray and also keeping third-choice Joseph Woll sidelined, the Leafs are relying on Erik Kallgren.

His backup versus the Carolina Hurricanes was the aforementioned, newly signed, Keith Petruzzelli, who has only just inked his first NHL deal.

As such, you have to start wondering whether the team will go hunting for a third-choice to act as the starter that has more experience than Kallgren, who is currently at 19 career NHL games., even though he’s helped lower the temperature lately with some solid play.

Concern was voiced in the summer when the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Matt Murray, whose injury history certainly rang some alarm bells.

Couple that with the loss of Ilya Samsonov, who had been performing strongly prior to exiting the Bruins game and you find the team deep down its’ depth chart.

In years’ gone by, Michael Hutchinson was still on the Toronto Marlies roster and although hardly a great option, he was someone with NHL experience that could be called upon.

The NHL rules are just not conductive to having a solid 3rd option readily available, unless that option is on an entry-level contract that allows movement between league’s without waivers.  Kallgren is about as good as it gets for goalies who fit this category.

If the Toronto Maple Leafs don’t want to ride it out with what they have, there are perhaps three genuine options (and a few extra ideas) that seem plausibly available at a price that might be worth the risk:

Joonas Korpisalo (Columbus Blue Jackets)

On a one-year deal paying just $1.3 million, Korpisalo is probably the most likely of the outside bets.

His first game for the Columbus Blue Jackets this season saw the Colorado Avalanche put five past him in his native Finland, but that’s not to say he couldn’t rebound with a change of scenery.

The primary concern with Korpisalo is that his first season in the NHL has proven to be a bit of an outlier. In the years since, he hasn’t ever gotten near his 0.920 save percentage from that 2015-16 season.

Of course, this might make an approach for him slightly cheaper, but it’s a bit of an ‘approach with caution’ situation, somewhat akin to acquiring David Rittich a couple of years back.

Certainly, it won’t be the first time that Joonas Korpisalo’s name pops up in the same sentence as the Toronto Maple Leafs with a low cap hit, maybe he is worth betting on.

The big appeal is his size and lateral movement, again not the sort of goalie to unnecessarily scramble for the puck, which would be a good fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Trade cost probably comes into the equation too, as he has just recovered from hip surgery and might very well still be regarded as an option moving forward in Columbus.

Elvis Merzlikins definitely has a spot in the tandem locked down, but Daniil Tarasov might be someone they want to give a longer look, especially as they don’t appear likely to be that competitive this season.

A lot of the decision-making here comes down to the asking price. If the Blue Jackets are keen to do business at a price that represents value, when you consider he could be lost for free on waivers, absolutely the Leafs should pull the trigger.

Aaron Dell (San Jose Sharks)

Looking at the goaltending depth chart in San Jose once more, Aaron Dell is currently plying his trade with the San Jose Barracuda despite having more than 100 NHL games to his name.

He could rightly be termed somewhat of a journeyman at this point, having seen the ice for the San Jose Sharks, New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres.

In recent years, he has failed to impress in the NHL with his goals-against-average above 3 goals in each of his past four NHL campaigns.

Factor in also that he’s sitting on 3.34 goals-against-average and 0.898 save percentage in four AHL games this year and maybe he’s no better of an option than Erik Kallgren or Keith Petruzzelli, except for having more big-league experience.

Or perhaps, there’s more than meets the eye and he’s been a goalie that has performed average on poor teams that offered limited defensive resilience and as such his statistics aren’t as bad as they look.

In his best NHL campaign back in the 2016-17 season, he played 20 games for the San Jose Sharks with a 2.00 goals-against-average and 0.931 save percentage albeit behind the league’s fifth-best defense.

Given his cap hit is just $775,000 the Toronto Maple Leafs might certainly do worse and if they were smart, they’d negotiate an option to loan him back if need be.

That approach would be a smart bet in terms of continuing to develop Kallgren, Petruzzelli and eventually Woll with the Marlies moving forward.

Of course, that also factors him clearing waivers; there’s every chance he’d be picked up solely on the basis of being NHL-ready goaltending.

However, that one break-out campaign as backup to Martin Jones highlights that he was able to get the job done when his defense was firing on all cylinders; there’s worse choices the Leafs could make.

Anthony Stolarz (Anaheim Ducks)

The third option and maybe the most likely of the bunch is the Anaheim Ducks’ Anthony Stolarz, who has only recently found his groove as an NHL option.

Taken in the second round (45th overall) by the Philadelphia Flyers back in 2012, last year he saw the ice 28 times (23 starts) for the Ducks.

Considering they weren’t a very competitive outfit, his statistics are quite remarkable with the big-bodied New Jersey native putting up a save percentage of 0.917 and goals-against-average of 2.67 for the 2021-22 Ducks (per Elite Prospects).

It’s worth noting that they finished 23rd in the league last year with the 10th-worst goals against, conceding 271 goals.

The combination of his size in net with his 6’6″ frame, his proven ability last season and the fact he’s still only 28 years old suggest that the Ducks would be hoping to cash-in.

Stolarz would likely come with a decent price-tag just based on these facts alone, but add in a contract that pays just $950,000 this season and you can see how it might bump that price higher.

Behind the right team, you have to imagine that Anthony Stolarz could certainly make a living as an NHL backup, hence why he might be a hard move to make for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

They are unlikely to offer up, in all likelihood Matt Murray’s backup spot, given the cap hit of their summer signing and the league in turn is unlikely to turn a blind eye if the Leafs attempted to sneak Stolarz through waivers.

Perhaps if Matt Murray finds himself reinjured or the injury concern Ilya Samsonov is dealing with turns out to be major and necessitate a decent period of time off on injured reserve, it might be time to make a deal.

In the meantime, Anthony Stolarz may represent the best option on the market but one that is just out of reach for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The going is tough right now with fourth and fifth-choice goalies in the line-up, but is adding another goalie to the mix going to solve anything long-term for the Leafs or will it just compound their asset management problems?