With most of the offseason moves made by NHL clubs in the month of October, it is a good time to take a look at the Toronto Maple Leafs and how they are situated at each position for the 2020-21 season. GM Kyle Dubas was extremely busy in free agency and shook up a number of areas of the Leafs roster, but we will have to wait until next January or February to see if those changes will result in more success.
Goaltending was thought to be an area that would see a significant change, with rumors of Frederik Andersen possibly being traded and a number of unrestricted free agents flooding the market, but the re-signing of Robin Lehner in Vegas and the trade of Matt Murray to Ottawa limited the Leafs options of upgrading between the pipes and Dubas chose to keep Andersen for the final year of his contract.
Jack Campbell is firmly ensconced as the backup for next season after playing well in six games after being acquired from Los Angeles last February. Campbell will likely see more action than any #2 since James Reimer backed up Jonathan Bernier, as the NHL will undoubtedly be playing a compacted schedule with a lot of back-to-backs next season.
After a couple of seasons where the club scrambled for veteran depth in goal because of injuries, the Leafs addressed those concerns by signing former San Jose Sharks goalie Aaron Dell to a one-year, $800,000 deal and by re-signing Michael Hutchinson to a two-year, $1.45 million contract.
Dell played a career-high 33 games for the Sharks last season and can handle more than the usual backup workload in a pinch, while Hutchinson (who struggled with the Leafs but played well in an emergency role for Colorado in the playoffs) was signed in part as insurance in case Dell is claimed on waivers and also to give Toronto a goalie to expose to Seattle for the upcoming expansion draft.
Both Joseph Woll and Ian Scott will be spending most of next season in either the ECHL or AHL, but the uncertainty of their seasons could affect their development going forward. Scott, who missed all of last year recovering from hip surgery, could play most of the year in Newfoundland. Woll had an 11-16-3 record, 3.75 GAA and .880 save percentage in 32 AHL games for the Marlies, but the club’s downturn after Sheldon Keefe was promoted to the NHL have to be factored into the 22-year-old’s struggles in his first pro season.
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