Now that Matt Murray is officially on LTIR, the Toronto Maple Leafs need to sign another goaltender.
As it currently stands, the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to run with Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll for the 2023-24 season. However, is that sustainable for an 82 game regular season?
Over the past few years, tandem goaltenders have been very popular, with some team’s having to use four or even five goaltenders for a regular season. Even once the playoffs hit, team’s have had to rely on multiple goalies to help guide them to a Stanley Cup.
With Murray unavailable for the 2023-24 season, the next goaltender up for the Leafs would be Keith Petruzzelli, but I don’t think the Leafs want him in the NHL yet. Although I’ve been a huge fan of his and still believe that he can be an NHLer one day, the 24-year-old still needs (at minimum) another year in the AHL before he makes the leap.
His stats were OK last year, but another full season in the AHL will be very important for his development before the team promotes him to the NHL.
Toronto Maple Leafs Still Need a Veteran Goaltender
With Petruzzelli stuck on the Marlies for another season, it would only leave Woll and Samsonov as the tandem for the 23-24 season, which is scary.
Samsonov has never started more than 44 games in an NHL season, while Woll only has 11 NHL regular season games under his belt. As a result, nobody should expect that both Woll and Samsonov will be the only goalies who play for this team next year.
Toronto doesn’t need anyone flashy right now, but instead needs a veteran goaltender who can handle 15-20 games.
There are multiple UFA goalies still available right now, but the most logical person is still Brian Elliot. The 38-year-old is a Newmarket, ON native has already been linked to the Leafs during free agency.
I’m not sure if Toronto has offered Elliot a contract yet, or if Elliot is still contemplating retirement, but this feels like a perfect fit for him.
Elliot would be able to finally play for his hometown team and could also serve as a goalie coach, more than a back-up goalie. His guidance could be very important to someone like Woll and he’ll also more likely than not be able to play a few games.
I doubt there are multiple teams lining up for Elliot’s services right now, so if he wants to play next year, he should sign in Toronto. If it doesn’t end up being Elliot, other names include Jaroslav Halak, Mike Smith and even Aaron Dell.
We’ll see what happens but expect the Leafs to sign a veteran goaltender sooner than later.