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The shopping list - Part I - Goalie depth; Leafs vs. Lightning

December 13, 2018, 6:16 PM ET [978 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs face possibly their most difficult challenge of the regular season, as they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in a battle of the league’s two best records at Amalie Arena on Thursday. The Lightning lead the Atlantic Division and the NHL with a 24-7-1 record and winners of seven games in a row, while Toronto trails them by six points in spite of an impressive 21-9-1 record.

“It’s a way to have an evaluation of your own club. We are going to find out a lot here tonight.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said. “(Tampa) is setting the standard in the league right now and we’d like to.”




Babcock will stay with the same line combinations and defensive pairings that played in Carolina on Tuesday, with Connor Brown taking the place of the suspended Zach Hyman on the top line with John Tavares and Mitch Marner.

The game has all the potential of being a wide open affair, as the squads are also atop the NHL in goals scored (Tampa - 130, Toronto -113), which means a busy night for Frederik Andersen, who bounced back from a bad effort in Boston with a 28-save victory over the Canes and makes his 26th start of the season, while the Lightning get starter Andrei Vasilevskiy back after missing a month with a broken foot.

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With a couple months before the NHL trade deadline, team GM’s are putting together their shopping lists of where to add depth concerns or address areas of need within their organization. With the Leafs, most of the focus will likely be on bolstering their blueline and possibly adding some size and sandpaper to the roster, but what is becoming more apparent is that the club has to find another goaltender that can play in the American Hockey League for the Toronto Marlies and step up in the NHL in case either Frederik Andersen or Garret Sparks are injured.

The club’s depth between the pipes evaporated with the loss of Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard just before the start of the season, the tandem of Kasimir Kaskisuo and Eamon McAdam have no NHL experience, are both below .900 save percentage in the AHL this season and gave up eight goals on 30 shots in the Marlies 8-1 loss to Syracuse on Wednesday.

The chances of McElhinney or Pickard getting waived are slim with the goaltending situations in Carolina and Arizona, so the likely solution for GM Kyle Dubas is to acquire someone in the AHL with past NHL experience. Those options may be slim, but there are those who fit that criteria:

Jon Gillies - Calgary: Once the Flames top goaltending prospect, the 24-year-old played 11 NHL games and had a solid season in the AHL last season, but has faltered this year with the Stockton Heat. With Tyler Parsons (2017 WJC gold medal winner) in the Calgary pipeline, Gillies could be available.

J-F Berube - Columbus: 27-year-old journeyman with previous NHL stints with the Islanders and Hawks, who is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

Al Montoya - Edmonton: Veteran backup with 168 NHL games under his belt making just over $1 Million on a one-way deal. Montoya is also a UFA after this season.

Michael Hutchinson - Florida: The former Jets backup makes $1.3 Million on a one-year deal with the Panthers, but might not be available with Roberto Luongo’s frequent trips to the injured list.

Andrew Hammond - Minnesota: “The Hamburglar” was a throw-in in the Matt Duchene/Kyle Turris deal last season and signed with the Wild last summer and has a 7-3 record with their AHL affiliate in Iowa.

Eddie Lack - New Jersey: Once a goalie with promise in the Canucks organization, Lack is struggling as the backup to Mackenzie Blackwood with the AHL Binghamton Devils.

Dustin Tokarski / Marek Mazanec - New York: Part of the rotating backup situation with the Rangers, Tokarski has NHL experience with stops in Tampa Bay, Montreal and Anaheim, while Mazanec was with Nashville.

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