Jhonas Enroth Signing a Win for Him and for the Maple Leafs

It’s helpful to think of the summer goalie market as a game of musical chairs.

There are only 30 starter and 30 backup jobs available at the NHL level, and in any summer only a fraction of those jobs are available. In every summer in recent memory, there have been more unsigned major-league goalies than there have been NHL goalie jobs.

Thus, every summer, there’s a mad scramble to find work.

On Monday, Jhonas Enroth managed to finagle his way into what may have been the last available seat. Meanwhile, the Toronto Maple Leafs were rewarded for their patience with a decent goaltender for the same price as many other teams paid for inferior options.

That’s obvious when we compare Enroth to similarly priced backups who were signed this summer:

Player	Team	Cap Hit	Years	3Y GP	3Y 5v5 SV%
Jhonas Enroth	Maple Leafs	$750,000	1	94	0.923
Anton Khudobin	Bruins	$1,200,000	2	79	0.919
Jeff Zatkoff	Kings	$900,000	2	35	0.919
Antti Raanta	Rangers	$1,000,000	2	64	0.919
Al Montoya	Canadiens	$950,000	1	73	0.918
Carter Hutton	Blues	$1,125,000	2	75	0.917
Jonas Gustavsson	Oilers	$800,000	1	58	0.916
Anders Nilsson	Sabres	$1,000,000	1	48	0.914

5-on-5 save percentage is the big number here. The league average hovers right around 0.920 most years, and the typical starter is going to be found in the 0.926 range. Enroth is solidly in 1A/1B territory, and he’s the only goalie on this list to come in north of the NHL average.

The other big number is cap hit. Enroth is the cheapest player on this list, and Toronto only had to commit to a single year. Jonas Gustavsson, who is almost as cheap and also on a one-year deal, is seven points shy of Enroth in save percentage. Toronto managed to pay a touch less than the Edmonton Oilers and got a better goalie.

Enroth also happens to be the most proven player on the list, with 94 games played over the last three seasons. Anton Khudobin is next at 79 games played, and he’s also one of the better players on this list by save percentage. Enroth came in at a steep discount and half the term.

Toronto clearly did well here. There’s a lesson for other NHL teams, a lesson that’s applicable pretty much every year: When it comes to backup goalies, it’s always a buyer’s market. Feel free to wait for the guy you actually want and don’t be too eager to open up your wallet.  

Yet we can also say that Enroth did well to get the deal he did.

Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

Some of that is the musical chairs element.

Toronto was one of the few remaining teams with a job to fill. San Jose has room for another goalie, but it may not sign one and is probably the last team with an open backup job.

There are still goalies on the market. Karri Ramo is the best of the bunch, but Joni Ortio and Anders Lindback were in the majors at the start of last season, too.

More important is the opportunity that playing for Toronto represents.

Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Frederik Andersen, the Maple Leafs’ new starter, played just 43 games last season. In 2014-15, he hit a career-high with 54 games played. He will be asked to do more next season, but he isn’t a player with a history of logging a lot of minutes. That means Enroth is virtually certain to get more time in net than he did last season behind long-time L.A. workhorse Jonathan Quick.

Toronto is also a major media market; a backup who performs well there will be noticed and will be mentioned as a potential starter elsewhere. Plenty of mid-tier free agents have increased their profiles around the league with stints in Toronto over the last couple of years. There’s no reason why Enroth can’t do the same.

This is a good deal for both parties. Toronto gets a very good goalie on the cheap. Enroth finds NHL work and gets a chance to raise his profile for next summer.  

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.