Toronto Maple Leafs: Goalies at the Prospect Camp

The Toronto Maple Leafs released on Twitter Tuesday afternoon the rookies that were invited to the 2023 Prospects Tournament.

Among the high profile players like Matthew Knies, Topi Niemelä and Easton Cowan will likely get all the attention, but there are three goalies that will wear the Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys and can make a name for themselves.

The prospect camp has become quite the event, and this year’s team is looking very interesting.

The three goaltenders that were invited are two Maple Leafs draft picks and an undrafted CHL prospect.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Goalies at the Prospect Camp

Here is the goaltender invitees:

Vyacheslav Peksa – Drafted 6th Round, 185th Overall in 2021 NHL Entry Draft
The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Peksa in the 2021 Entry Draft after playing second string minutes for Irbis Kazan of the Russian Junior Hockey League. (all stats hockey-reference.com).

Peksa is a 6’2″ goalie that played the majority of his 2022-23 season with Bars Kazan of the Supreme Hockey League, the equivalent to the KHL’s version of the American Hockey League.  Peksa was the starting goalie and posted a 13-19-6 record with a 2.34 GAA and .921 save percentage.

The Russian goaltender signed his entry level contract this past May and is expected to spend the season with the Toronto Marlies.

Dennis Hildeby – Drafted 4th Round, 122nd Overall in 2022 NHL Entry Draft
Selected just over a year ago in the 2022 Entry Draft, Dennis Hildeby signed his entry level contract weeks after being drafted.

The Leafs loaned Hildeby back to Färjestad BK Karlstad of the the Swedish Hockey League where he played back-up and posted an 11-9-0 record with a 2.26 GAA and .918 save percentage.  Färjestad BK were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs which freed the Maple Leafs prospect to come to North America to work with the Toronto Marlies.

With the Marlies, Hildeby got one start where he was shelled with 42 shots and allowed five goals against the Utica Comets where the Marlies mustered just 20 shots.

He made one more appearance before the end of the season, which came in relief against the Belleville Senators after Keith Petruzzelli surrendered four goals.  Unfortunately, Hildeby did not have much more like as he allowed three goals on 11 shots.

I wouldn’t put much weight on his 5.28 GAA and .849 save percentage with the Marlies as it is too small of a sample size and his team was poor in front of him.

Now with Joseph Woll projected to compete for the starting role this year with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Hildeby becomes the next top goalie prospect in the organization.  Standing 6’6″, the Swedish goaltender has a towering prescience in net.

Luke Cavallin – Undrafted CHL Free Agent
Luke Cavallin played his junior career for the Ontario Hockey League’s Flint Firebirds where he served back up in his first three seasons.  After missing the playoffs each of those years, Cavallin became the starter in his last season and helped lead the Firebirds to the Ontario Hockey League Western Conference Finals where they would lose in seven games.

After posting a .910 save percentage in his final year in Flint he signed on with the Toronto Maple Leafs ECHL affiliate Newfoundland Growlers last year.  Cavallin led all goaltenders in minutes and posted a 24-9-1 record with a 2.56 GAA and .917 save percentage.

None of these goalies have a chance of breaking training camp with the Maple Leafs, but they can position themselves well for the season with either the Marlies or the Growlers with a good prospects tournament.