One of the top Toronto Maple Leafs prospects is 6'7" goaltender Dennis Hildeby, and he put together a string of games that has got him acknowledged by the American Hockey League.
The 23-year old Toronto Maple Leafs netminder earned AHL player of the week for a pair of wins over the Belleville Senators on Thursday and Saturday.
Hildeby got the Boxing Day start last Thursday and turned away all 31 shots he faced to earn his first shutout of the season after recording four last year. The Marlies would earn a 3-0 victory thanks to goals by Alex Steeves, Jacob Quillan and Fraser MInten.
Two days later, coach John Gruden elected to go back with Hildeby in the rematch and made the right decision. The Marlies were outplayed and outshot 38-24, but the former fourth round pick would only surrender three goals holding off the Senators long enough for his team to rally with a pair of goals in the third period for a 4-3 victory.
HIldeby would finish the pair of games with two victories, a 1.50 goals against average and .957 save percentage.
Hildeby has quickly become one of the organizations top prospects
The Maple Leafs selected Dennis Hildeby in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft as a 20-year old after being overlooked the previous two drafts. He would come over to North America later that season to the Marlies and got into one game before permanently joining the club at the start of the 2023-24 season. He has since tended the goal in 49 games posting a 25-13-9 record with a 2.41 GAA and .913 save percentage.
This past summer, we named Hildeby as the Toronto Maple Leafs second-best prospect in our annual top-ten prospect rankings.
This season, Hildeby made his NHL debut on October 10 against the New Jersey Devils where he turned away 21 of 23 shots for the victory. He has since got the start in two more games splitting each of them and has posted a 2-1-0 record with a 3.68 GAA that ballooned up with one game where he surrendered six goals.
Recently Hildeby has been bouncing back and forth with the Marlies and Maple Leafs as paper transactions so that the big club can avoid putting Matt Murray on waivers as long as possible. However, between Murray's struggles and Hildeby's play in the AHL, it may be time for his fourth start of the season.