11:35am: In a turn of events, Sparks was not at practice and his locker room stall has been removed according to Kristen Shilton of TSN. Head coach Mike Babcock said after practice that the goaltender would work on his own with the coaches to try and get his confidence back. Hutchinson will serve as backup for the time being.
8:42am: The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t been able to rely on backup goaltender Garret Sparks recently, who has won just a single game in his last eight appearances while posting an .891 save percentage during that time. Today, they made the interesting move of recalling Michael Hutchinson from the minor leagues. The Toronto Marlies, who are in a playoff position but have not clinched yet, play today and tomorrow.
Hutchinson is the fourth regular recall for the Maple Leafs, and will need waivers if the team wanted to send him back down. Sparks would also require waivers and is ineligible to play for the Marlies in the playoffs, meaning this move is likely just to give the Maple Leafs a third goaltender as they prepare for their first round series against the Boston Bruins. Obviously there could be an injury that hasn’t been announced, but so far Frederik Andersen is still scheduled to start game 82 against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
While Andersen is the obvious choice to start against the Bruins as well, Hutchinson’s presence gives the team an interesting decision on who to dress as a backup or insert into the net if needed. Sparks was retained at the beginning of the season over both Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard because of his relative youth and success in the minor leagues, but now has just a .902 save percentage on the year and .898 across 37 NHL appearances. Hutchinson meanwhile performed well for the Maple Leafs after coming over in a trade earlier this year, but has also had his fair share of struggles in the minor leagues.
The Maple Leafs also technically have Joseph Woll on the NHL roster, but the young goaltender is working to graduate from Boston College early and is not expected to see any action outside of the odd practice.
Bout time !
Dubas might have wasted the leafs best season to push hard for a cup run !
By choosing the wrong back up goalie? Do you realize how dumb that sounds? Pickard cleared waivers before we acquired him last year and we got McElheiny on waivers in the first place. These aren’t guys that you could have sat there at the beginning of the year and relied on if Andersen went down anyways… regardless of how McBackup has looked in Carolina.
I don’t know lox. Right now the difference between Sparks and Mchelliny could be the difference between home ice advantage in the first round. That’s huge.
With major contract issue with several key players , and making moves to shore up the Defense, and the Leafs have to find a way to find a back up goaltender this summer, in reviewing lots of team needs , wants and contracts this summer , including draft and free agency, and contract this off season is going to be a very hectic , with many issues to look at. and will may cost losing some young talent on current roster.
Dubas may well have wasted the Leafs best shot, but it surely isn’t related to the backup.
He had a chance to trade Nylander, a player they don’t need, for a defenseman they do need.
That was the mistake.
But, falling in love with the scrubs who helped him win a Calder Cup was a bad idea, too.
what are you talking about? they are a playoff team with a top 6 record in the league?
is it? have you seen the leafs play at home?
and so the backup goalie changes and the leafs gain maybe 8 extra points. still have to win on the road in a 7 game series vs Tampa. Still would need to win a series vs Boston.
what scrubs would these be?
JD I’d love some of what your smoking ! I also think you need a spell checker.