During the Toronto Maple Leafs’ chaotic 10-7 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night, one of the biggest issues facing the Leafs’ right now was further exposed.
Their goaltending.
Jack Campbell got off to a hot start this season and was in the Vezina conversation, but has fallen off since the start of December, and Petr Mrazek hasn’t found his footing with the team just yet. It’s starting to cost the team games, even when the offense is bailing them out.
So, Frank Seravalli posed the question to Chris Gear on the Daily Faceoff Show, what is the level of concern for the Leafs’ goaltending on a scale of 1-10?
Chris Gear: “It’s gotta be approaching a six or a seven. Jack Campbell started off the season so well, it just looked like he had answered all the Leafs’ prayers in net, but the numbers are showing now that these are not trends you want to see as you head towards the playoffs for either goalie. Seeing the highlights from that game, I thought I was watching an exhibition game between the Argos and the Lions, it’s pretty wild.”
“I think the Leafs are going to have to seriously consider if these two guys can carry them in the playoffs, or whether they need to look at another option. Campbell has shown that he is capable, but again, the trend is going the wrong way.”
Frank Seravalli: “I’m much more concerned than you are, I give it a nine out of ten, and the reason for that is this: They’ve shown in the past that their scoring, at least historically, has dried up when you get to the playoffs. Auston Matthews has three goals in his last 12 Stanley Cup Playoff games.”
“You can’t outrun poor goaltending in the playoffs. Maybe this is just a blip on the radar, maybe the Leafs hope that Campbell OR Mrazek, one of the two will rebound in time to give them serviceable goaltending.”
“They can look at defense, they can potentially try and add some toughness up front or a little bit of hard skill if they’re interested, but I think you have to get your goaltending right, or else if you get to the playoffs, and you think you’re going to have to score 4 or 5 or 6 in a night to outscore your goaltending, I just don’t know that’s a recipe for success.”
Gear: “When you look at some of the trade targets in goal that you’ve identified, you look at Dallas, you could take a player like Holtby or Khudobin just in and around the $2 million mark, and if you were to put Mrazek in the minors to save $1.125 million on his bury charge, it doesn’t take an awful lot of extra cap space to bring in one of those guys.”
“Could those be an option for Toronto? Maybe. We’ll see whether Kyle Dubas has that scale of nervousness that you seem to have for them.”
You can watch the full segment from the latest episode of The Daily Faceoff Show here.
More must-reads: