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5 Toronto Maple Leafs Thoughts for the end of the summer

The end of the Toronto Maple Leafs off-season is nearly upon us with Labour Day Weekend portending the end of the Great NHL News Drought and allowing us to get back to our normal activities.

By James Tanner

May 4, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) participates in warmups prior to game seven of the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
May 4, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) participates in warmups prior to game seven of the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports / Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
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3 Toronto Maple Leafs Thoughts for the end of the summer

Goalies

Let it be on the record that the Toronto Maple Leafs biggest error was with their goalies.

It is absolutely idiotic to come into a season in which Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are in their primes with two randos in net. The Leafs will go with Joseph Woll, a guy so prone to injury that you can go back to when he was 18 years old in 2016 and see that he hasn't played more than 37 games in one season, even with multiple leagues, playoffs and regular season combined.

A guy who hasn't cracked 40 games played during the ages 18-26 is now the starting goalie for a team hoping to win the Stanley Cup. To back him up, they have the 31 year-old Anthony Stolarz who has also hit 40 games played in a year only once in the last decade.

Sure, it is possible that both guys combine to be the best goalies in hockey. That that is even a possibility shows how unpredictable goalies in the NHL are.

But then again, they aren't that unpredicted. The odds that you could just take two random goalies and have an Ullmark/Swayman situation on your hands are extremely long. I mean, just tell me the last time that happened to anyone but Boston?

The smartest thing the Leafs could have done is use every asset at their disposable to acquire a top-of-the-NHL goalie like the formerly available Jusse Saros. The Predators found out that no one would pay top dollar for an established goalie, so they traded their top prospect instead. Good move on their part to stick with the known quantity, but a huge lost opportunity for the Leafs.

Pairing Auston Matthews with one of the best goalies alive is a no-brainer and the kind of thing that is so basic you shouldn't be able to screw it up. So far, the Leafs have done nothing but screw it up.

Taking on a pair of random goalies who are cheap in the hopes of lucking into a Stanley Cup is the dumbest possible strategy. No one is too mad about it now because the off-season breeds hope, but it's a risky move and the team will regret not landing Saros, or going hard after Sorokin, Binnington, or even John Gibson.

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