Do the Toronto Maple Leafs Need To Add Another Goalie?

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter

Through seven games, the Toronto Maple Leafs are ranked 30th overall in goals against per game. The Leafs are giving up an average of 4.57 goals, comparatively, the Phoenix Coyotes, a team that had more offseason turmoil than Madonna has had boyfriends, is leading the NHL, giving up a paltry 1.43 goals against.

For the record, the NHL average is about three goals against per game.

There are several reasons for the Leafs' poor showing. Poor goaltending, poor execution by the forwards and defensemen and, to a lesser degree, poor coaching. Thus far, the Leafs have used Vesa Toskala, Jonas “the fragile Monster” Gustavsson, and the well travelled Joey MacDonald to try to shore up their goaltending.

There are great hopes that Gustavsson will emerge as the Leafs' No. 1 goalie, that said, in the event that he doesn’t, where will the Leafs turn?

Clearly, Toskala is a wild card, as is Gustavsson and, as good as Joey MacDonald is, he is a career backup goaltender with decent, if not limited, skills. The reality is, if the Leafs continue to slide, they are going to need a goaltender and there are not many options available to them.

Last week, there were a few rumors circulating that the Leafs may attempt to acquire goaltender J.S. Giguere (recently injured his groin) out of Anaheim. With $13 million over two seasons owed to Giguere, the prospect of Leafs general manager Brian Burke making a move to acquire Giguere seem very slim, if not impossible.

Nashville Predators goaltender Dan Ellis may have been an option, but he is having a bit of a resurgence this season and, with Pekka Rinne struggling between the pipes, it would seem unlikely that the Preds would be willing to make a move.

On the surface, it would appear as if Burke has overvalued his goaltenders. Comparatively, Free Agent signee Craig Anderson of the Colorado Avalanche has played superb and has a 6-1 record to show for it.

Coming off a year in the KHL, the Flyers Ray Emery has played well and owns a 3-2 record with a respectable 2.79 goals against average, and the St. Louis Blues' Ty Conklin has a 2-0 record. Burke passed on all three of them.

Free agency can be a bit of a crap shoot, that said, it cannot be ignored that Burke passed on all three of these goaltenders and went hard after Gustavsson. Worse yet, Burke seemingly put a lot of stock in Toskala, a goalie who was coming off two surgeries, one of which was a season-ending (2008-09) injury to repair a torn acetabular labrum.

Admittedly, all the fingers cannot be solely pointed at Toskala, Gustavsson, and MacDonald. Let’s face it, the Leafs have been losing on team effort, or lack thereof. This is a team that, looks lost, makes poor decisions in their own zone, has trouble scoring, and, quite often, fails to make that first pass.

Nobody can expect the Leafs to fix all of their problems overnight, but if they could get a more consistent effort from their goaltenders, it would go a long way in instilling some confidence to the forwards and defensemen alike.

From all accounts, it would appear as if the Leafs need to acquire another goaltender before season’s end. Seemingly, one of Gustavsson or Toskala will fall out of favor with the coaching staff, leaving Joey MacDonald to mop up. Is anyone out there comfortable with that?

One option that might be worth looking into would be signing former Dallas Star, Minnesota Wild, and, more recently, Boston Bruin goaltender Manny Fernandez.

Fernandez, a butterfly style goaltender, did not receive a contract offer this summer and is still a free agent. Given the fact that Fernandez has no contract and seemingly would still like to play in the NHL, he should come cheap.

Admittedly, Fernandez comes with some baggage. His attitude has been questioned in the past and he can be a streaky goalie, if not inconsistent. That said, you cannot ignore his stats, which, for the most part, have been good.

In 28 games with the Bruins in 2008-09, Fernandez compiled a record of 16-8-3 with a 2.59 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. He owns a career record of 143-123-24-11 with a 2.50 goals against average and a .912 save percentage. Those are pretty good numbers, certainly better than any of the Leafs goaltenders have put up in recent memory.

It’s still early. Hopefully, one of Toskala or Gustavsson can get healthy enough to lead this team into a playoff spot, heck, at this point, a win would be nice! The thing is, the Leafs have to be prepared for the worst and with the Leafs ‘1’ and ‘1A’ goalies struggling and MacDonald not fairing any better, the Leafs need to be aggressive and look for help.

Until next time,

Peace!