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The Toronto Maple Leafs faced an offseason with key players entering free agency and not a great deal of space under the salary cap to either re-sign or replace them. GM Kyle Dubas was not in a position to bid for big names on July 28, but needed to replace big contributors like Frederik Andersen and Zach Hyman.
After seeing the transition from Andersen (due to a knee injury in March) to Jack Campbell, the Leafs hierarchy felt comfortable going to the 29-year-old as their starter, who had a 17-3-2 record, 2.15 GAA, and .921 save percentage, set a franchise record for the longest win streak by a goaltender and made all seven starts in the first round loss to Montreal, posting a 1.81 GAA and .934 save percentage.
Campbell’s ongoing injury issues made it necessary for Dubas to replace Andersen with a tandem partner who could split the duties, and Toronto’s answer was 29-year-old Petr Mrazek, who agreed to a three-year, $11.4 million deal ($3.8 million AAV).
“We just wanted someone with a good long track record of being a very good goaltender in the league. From that point on, it was trying to find the best value for us, which we feel we did with Petr Mrazek today.… Dubas said . “He has been a very good tandem partner in Carolina for the last number of years. We like his competitiveness. We like the fact that behind the scenes, everything else about him checks out as being very, very strong.…
Mrazek can be excellent at times, but his history shows that he is better suited to being a 1B and splitting duties, pushing another goalie for playing time. With Campbell only having one year left on his current deal, he will be motivated to repeat last year’s performance to earn a new contract or sell his wares in free agency.
With both the AHL Marlies and ECHL Growlers resuming play this fall, the Leafs will have four goalies in veteran Michael Hutchinson, import Erik Kallgren and youngsters Joseph Woll and Ian Scott getting plenty of work.
Woll is expected to get the lion’s share of the workload at Coca-Cola Coliseum with Hutchinson likely being the recall in case of injury at the NHL level. Kallgren is 24 and posted a 1.74 GAA and .930 save percentage in winning the SHL Championship with Vaxjo last season, so he could shuttle between the Maritimes and the GTA, while Scott (if healthy) will get a lot of starts with the Growlers.
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