Toronto's Goaltending Dilemma (Who starts in the playoffs?)

[AcerComputer]

Ride the hot hand, if Anderson comes back like a beast, even better.

 

[sittler rules!!!]

How do we get out of this? And who starts in the playoffs?

Andersen?

Campbell?

Rittich lol?

How do we handle the goaltending situation in the final games to put us in the best situation going into the playoffs?

Is CUJO still available?? Or mabe give Andrew Raycroft a call.

 

[sittler rules!!!]

So what’s with every Goalie getting worse when they play for us. Does the team seriously have to look at who’s the Goaltending Coach and fire his arse. They get worse when they get here. Why? Something is seriously wrong. These guys are head cases in no time after coming to Toronto.

Thinking the same thing

 

[cannucky]

I received a scolding from hfboards, well deserved, I might add. Now I don't have a like button showing up.

Has that happened to anyone here before/ I love giving out likes, some great posters on the Leaf board.

been there several times , it will come back , in time , even got spanked once for saying I got spanked lol Doh here comes another one probably .

 

[Leaf Fans]

Leafs need to give their prospects a chance and see who can emerge. Just look at Nedejkovic in Carolina. We have Woll, Scott, Vehvilainen to try. Give time to Campbell and Anderson to heal what injuries they might have. We already know what Hutch and Rittich are. We need to find out what our prospects can do. If they are good, then we get lucky, if not, then that gives rest to Campbell. The Leafs refusal to rotate players in a condensed season has been very confusing.

Nedejkovic is 11-4-2 Campbell is 11-2-1

 

[sparxx87]

Freddy would probably be our starter now if we didn't have him play through a nagging groin injury... just an absolutely stupid decision

A colossal failure. Hip or groin injuries to a goalie are debilitating and need to be fully healed before return. We all saw him slide to the left and fall flat, clearly something wrong but he inexplicably continued to play. Not just finish the game, but make multiple starts after.

That gamble with your starters groin is one of thee dumbest things you’ll ever see in this sport.

We don't have to cap space to take him off before the end of the season anyways.

Whose fault is that? Why would they ever put themselves in that position?

Dubas’ poor cap construction is the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[The Podium]

I’m hoping Campbell rebounds and takes the net. He was the best of the bunch at his best and it seems like the team rallies around him, or his story.

Andersen’s game 7 struggles are in the back of the players mind, that’s not a good recipe for success.

 

[The Podium]

Lou does

Lou got us our starting goalie

 

[Spirit of 67]

Run with Campbell.

Gotta find out if he's up for the job.

 

[The Podium]

Whose fault is that? Why would they ever put themselves in that position?

Dubas’ poor cap construction is the gift that keeps on giving.

Tampa is in the same position...

Not to mention with Hymans injury I think they can manipulate LTIR to get Andersen off of it.

 

[The Podium]

Maybe spending 40 mil on 4 forwards leaves you holes in other parts of the lineups, what do you think?

The Leafs are 15th in cap allotted to goaltending and within 300k as 5 teams above them. The cap structure isn’t the issue.

 

[BoredBrandonPridham]

I honestly struggle to understand how Briere still has a job here.

This comes from someone who has absolutely no clue what his job actually is, so it makes sense.

But this organization does not seem to be able to produce even a capable NHL back up.

 

[sparxx87]

Tampa is in the same position...

Not to mention with Hymans injury I think they can manipulate LTIR to get Andersen off of it.

Tampa has no cap space to activate their starting goalie?

No, Tampa was going to move Tyler Johnson until learning Kucherov elected surgery and would be out for the year. They chose to LTIR Kucherov and keep Johnson. That’s why they’re tight. That seems like a smart way to deal with that.

The Leafs situation is a problem they created for themselves.

 

[sparxx87]

The Leafs are 15th in cap allotted to goaltending and within 300k as 5 teams above them. The cap structure isn’t the issue.

I disagree. It’s overall cap, positions are irrelevant.

If they weren’t so tight to the cap they wouldn’t have tried maneuvering Dell through waivers. If they don’t lose Dell they likely play him when Anderson was hurt rather than just playing Anderson.

If not for the cap they save Anderson’s groin and don’t waste a pick on a 3rd goalie they already had in Dell.

 

[The Podium]

I disagree. It’s overall cap, positions are irrelevant.

If they weren’t so tight to the cap they wouldn’t have tried maneuvering Dell through waivers. If they don’t lose Dell they likely play him when Anderson was hurt rather than just playing Anderson.

If not for the cap they save Anderson’s groin and don’t waste a pick on a 3rd goalie they already had in Dell.

You act like its common to carry 3 goalies and only 13/31 teams can carry Dell's cap hit of 800k.

Every team is tight to the ceiling, its ridiculous to blame Dubas for not having enough cap space to carry a 3rd string goalie on the active roster.

 

[The Podium]

Tampa has no cap space to activate their starting goalie?

No, Tampa was going to move Tyler Johnson until learning Kucherov elected surgery and would be out for the year. They chose to LTIR Kucherov and keep Johnson. That’s why they’re tight. That seems like a smart way to deal with that.

The Leafs situation is a problem they created for themselves.

Tampa literally did exactly what Toronto did with Kucherov rather than Andersen....

Toronto had the cap space to activate Andersen before acquiring Rittich, he was only blocked because he wasnt ready to come back and they needed to upgrade Hutchinson.

Now with Hymans injury, they can LTIR Hyman to get Andersen back in so they have the cap to activate Andersen when hes good to go.

You are fired up about a non-issue

 

[sparxx87]

Tampa literally did exactly what Toronto did with Kucherov rather than Andersen....

Toronto had the cap space to activate Andersen before acquiring Rittich, he was only blocked because he wasnt ready to come back and they needed to upgrade Hutchinson.

Now with Hymans injury, they can LTIR Hyman to get Andersen back in so they have the cap to activate Andersen when hes good to go.

You are fired up about a non-issue

Tampa knew Kucherov was out for the year. Anderson had no timeline and was injured (and inexplicably kept playing) mid season. They weren’t about to trade a $5M player prior to the Anderson injury, were they?

 

[sparxx87]

You act like its common to carry 3 goalies and only 13/31 teams can carry Dell's cap hit of 800k.

Every team is tight to the ceiling, its ridiculous to blame Dubas for not having enough cap space to carry a 3rd string goalie on the active roster.

I act like it’s COVID times and players are far more prone to be out of the lineup because of it. That said, it’d be smart to keep an extra goalie on hand just in case.

I blame Dubas for putting himself within a used Hyundai of the salary cap and allowing no wiggle room in case of injury.

 

[Bluelines]

So what’s with every Goalie getting worse when they play for us. Does the team seriously have to look at who’s the Goaltending Coach and fire his arse. They get worse when they get here. Why? Something is seriously wrong. These guys are head cases in no time after coming to Toronto.

Not saying a goalie coach who is 5'8 can't teach big goalies how to play...but how can a goalie coach who is small and probably learned how to play based on athleticism relate to a big guy like Andersen? I think it's maybe time to look for a different guy. Every goalie in a Toronto uni to play under Briere has got worse not better or remained the same. We don't see a improvement in play under his tutelage. I wont blame Big Save Daves last appearance on Briere, how much damage can a coach do in a week but you don't see Hitch getting better, you don't see Andy getting better, Campbell had a fluky streak where he played better than any goalie ever, now he back to earth.

 

[justashadowof]

A colossal failure. Hip or groin injuries to a goalie are debilitating and need to be fully healed before return. We all saw him slide to the left and fall flat, clearly something wrong but he inexplicably continued to play. Not just finish the game, but make multiple starts after.

This sort of injury doesn't go away overnight and often starts out like some annoying ailment you can play through with little difficulty. The only way, I believe, to handle that type of injury for full recovery is to shut down the athlete at a stage it still seems like a minor nagging ailment. I get why this often never happens because the goalie is a competitive athlete and the team is trying to win. These type of injuries are career enders with us outside observers just thinking of the player "having lost it" without knowing specifically what caused the decline.

 

[Bluelines]

Tampa knew Kucherov was out for the year. Anderson had no timeline and was injured (and inexplicably kept playing) mid season. They weren’t about to trade a $5M player prior to the Anderson injury, were they?

Campbell was out hurt and that left hutch as our only option. Hutch starting every game... not something I would want to experience.

 

[sparxx87]

Campbell was out hurt and that left hutch as our only option. Hutch starting every game... not something I would want to experience.

I agree, but that’s why Dell would have been great to have. Depth at every position was always going to be pretty important for most teams in a year like this.

Regardless, a goalie with a groin issue should be shut down immediately. More beginner stuff this organization has made a habit of getting wrong.

 

[DarkKnight]

Andersen is on the ice now, any word on what he’s doing, taking hard shots, just skating around?

 

[justashadowof]

Am I reading this correctly? The premise is that a goalie comes to town for a month, and despite a lifetime of goaltending experience into his late 20's early 30's, his game is ruined from interactions with a goaltending consultant. Seems a bit far fetched.

 

[Bluelines]

Andersen is on the ice now, any word on what he’s doing, taking hard shots, just skating around?

With the way the team is playing he's probably looking for a place to hide.