Toronto Maple Leafs Should Trade For Goalie at Deadline

Why can’t Toronto Maple Leafs starting goalies stay healthy, ever?

Ilya Samsonov was viewed as the Toronto Maple Leafs 1B or back-up goalie to start the season, but with the continuous health issues of Matt Murray, he’s now turned into the number-one.

We all know the history of Murray. He went from being the super-kid with two Stanley Cup rings to a waiver-wire goalie in a few short years. So, when he joined the Leafs last offseason, it was tough to judge what goalie we were getting.

It would be crazy to think that he’d be near-perfect like he was in Pittsburgh, but also just as crazy to think he’d be as bad as he was in Ottawa. We all wished and prayed for a healthy player, who could be average, at worst.

After 19 starts, Murray has provided that average goaltending, with a 2.73 GAA, .911 SV% and 11-5-2 record, but the biggest concern has been his health and now it’s even worse.

Murray was placed on Injured Reserve this week and is expected to miss a couple of weeks. His last game played was January 17th, so he’s already missed three weeks of action, so to miss another few weeks will be critical.

We’re unaware of what his current injury really is, so the fact that he’s going to end up being out close to six weeks is a scary thought as the team gets ready for the stretch-run.

Toronto Maple Leafs Should Explore Goalie Market

Ilya Samsonov is legit, but he’s falling into the Jack Campbell zone. For example, Samsonov has only played 114 career NHL games and only has eight playoff games of experience under his belt.

He has a 17-6-2 record with a .913 SV% and 2.42 GAA thus far, so his stats are decent, but he’s never been a legitimate starting goalie or has been “the guy”.

When Campbell was given the keys to become the Leafs number-one netminder, he looked great at times, but he struggled when he played too many games. Samsonov looked shaky after playing seven consecutive games before the All-Star break, so I’m worried that will continue if he has to play 70 percent of the remaining games.

In a perfect world, Murray comes back healthy and the two of them can battle it out heading into the playoffs, but I’m not convinced that will happen or that Samsonov can win them a Stanley Cup, or at the very least, a playoff series.

In terms of a trade, there are a few popular names that could be available such as Thatcher Demko, Semyon Varlamov, James Reimer, Joonas Korpisalo or Jonathan Quick. Although they could be just as uncertain as a healthy Murray, I’d almost feel better with one of those goalies than Murray.

They at least have some more experience and could be rejuvenated from joining a new team.

With so much money tied up to the forwards, the Leafs have never been able to pay a top-five goalie to join this roster and that may continue to be their kryptonite. We’ll see what happens in the next few weeks, but it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to try to trade for a goalie because the uncertainty of Samsonov and especially Murray down the stretch is real.