No Point in the Toronto Maple Leafs Pursuing Disgruntled Predators Goalie

The Toronto Maple Leafs were surely interested in a Nashville Predators goalie earlier in the summer, but now? Not so much.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are set in net with Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz and should not be interested in the potentially available top prospect from Nashville.

That isn't to say that the Leafs current goaltending situation is ideal or that adding a top prospect is ever a bad idea, I just don't think the timing works with Askarov, as intriguing as he is.

So although the Leafs get thrown around whenever another player asks for a trade, I think they should sit this one out.

No Point in the Toronto Maple Leafs Pursuing Disgruntled Predators Goalie

Earlier this year Jusse Saros was mentioned in trade rumours even though top goalies rarely change teams. Saros had a contract coming up and the Predators were in possession of the NHL's top goalie prospect. Therefore, it made sense that they would shop their expensive, but highly desirable asset.

Instead, the Predators chose to re-sign Saros to a massive contract extension that will keep him in Nashville for the next nine seasons, as it doesn't even kick in until after this upcoming one.

Since he has no shot at landing the starting gig on his current team, it makes sense that Askarov would request a trade.

Askarov was selected 11th overall in 2020 and is currently the top prospect among NHL goalies. He will be expensive to acquire because he's NHL ready and has a cheap contract, as well as absolutely massive upside.

But the Leafs shouldn't care.

The fact is their assets can be better used. They made their bets on the goalies they have and now they have to live with their decision. Sure, Askarov is thought to have a higher upside than Woll but that doesn't really mean much when it comes to goalies because they are so notoriously unpredictable.

I very much wanted the Leafs to pursue Saros, as he fits their win-now mentality. Askarov has three career games to his name and doesn't. If Woll wasn't an injury prone mess, he'd likely be ranked as high or higher than Askarov anyways - Woll's NHL numbers to date are pretty sick and he's looked VERY good whenever the stakes have been high.

In fact, if not for Woll's injury history, I'd be touting him as a future franchise player. The Leafs made their bet, and it's on Woll. Askarov could prove to turn out better, but it's going to have to be with a different team. The Leafs should not have any interest because whatever assets they could use to trade for Askarov could be better spent on replacing Tyler Bertuzzi, which they are yet to do.