Dubas confirms Leafs goaltending plans, but also still discussing extension with Campbell
The Leafs have shed the final two years of Petr Mrazek's contract thanks to Kyle Dubas working his magic again. The Leafs freed up $3.8M each of the next two seasons and now have enough cap space to go after any pretty much any goalie they like.
Unfortunately, with the amount of teams looking for goaltending help and the limited amount of netminders available, the price has certainly gone up for the likes of Darcy Kuemper, Jack Campbell, and Ville Husso.
Dubas said after round one that they are continuing to hold discussions with Jack Campbell's camp and has also clarified their intentions in searching for a backup. Dubas said, "I think I feel good about Kallgren and Woll battling there as well and that gives me confidence that the focus will certainly be one (goalie) and then we'll see what the cap situation is from there and proceed."
The Leafs are willing to go into the season with Erik Kallgren and/or Joseph Woll as their backup, depending on how they fill out the remaining roster spots. It may sound surprising, given the lack of experience there, but teams do this every season - allow prospects the opportunity to battle for a roster spot. Woll and Kallgren will be 24 and 26 years old, respectively, at the beginning of the 2022-23 season, so it's not as if they're too green to actually take the opportunity and run with it.
Frankly, this is how goalies like Darcy Kuemper, Jack Campbell and Ville Husso were able to emerge as legitimate options for their respective teams. The opportunity is there for the taking. Now it's up to Woll or Kallgren to take the ball and run with it.
With less than a week until free agency opens, Dubas will be busy exploring all the Leafs options in goal. He has not fully ruled out the possibility of signing/trading for two goaltenders, but with the focus narrowed to one netminder, it will give the Leafs a little more flexibility to also spend some of their cap space elsewhere in the lineup.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 8 | 443 ANSWERS Dubas confirms Leafs goaltending plans, but also still discussing extension with Campbell Who is the starter going to be in Toronto this fall? | ||
| Jack Campbell | 157 | 35.4 % |
| John Gibson | 96 | 21.7 % |
| Darcy Kuemper | 137 | 30.9 % |
| Other | 53 | 12 % |
| List of polls | ||
