''Erik Kallgren is not an NHL goalie'', says popular draft/prospects reporter
After beating the Winnipeg Jets and losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in their first two games of a five-game road trip, the Leafs came into California facing 3 very beatable opponents in the San Jose Sharks, LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks. Unfortunately for the Buds, lackluster efforts and complete breakdowns led them to a 0-1-2 record in California and a 1-2-2 run over the full trip.
One of the big stories of this trip was that Erik Kallgren, who is up with the Leafs while Matt Murray recovers from an abductor injury suffered in practice following his first start of the season. Sheldon Keefe had confirmed before the start of the road trip that both Ilya Samsonov and Kallgren would play games on the trip and the split ended up being 3 games for Samsonov (Winnipeg, Vegas, Los Angeles) and 2 games for Kallgren (San Jose and Anaheim).
Both Samsonov and Kallgren had some tough outings on the trip, but the difference seemed to be that Samsonov kept his team in every game with timely saves, whereas Kallgren just sort of fell flat and played below average almost inclusively.
Kallgren's outing in San Jose was a game in which the team in front of him didn't do him any favours. Still, as the goaltender, sometimes you have to make one or two extra saves. On Thursday, Kallgren simply didn't do that, allowing 4 goals on 31 shots, posting a .871 SV%. His outing in Anaheim on Sunday wasn't much better, posting a .897 SV% and allowing 4 goals on 39 shots, including this one from Trevor Zegras in OT:
Kallgren's struggles through 3 games this season only tell a part of the story. He also posted a SV% below .900 in 8 of his 14 appearances for the Leafs last season, including a horrendous run from March 19th to April 5th where he did not produce higher than a .885 SV%. Naturally, a lot of people have taken notice, including The Athletic's Scott Wheeler, who took to Twitter on Sunday to emphasize his belief that Erik Kallgren is not an NHL-caliber goaltender.
Granted, the Leafs aren't exactly playing smart two-way hockey in front of him this season, but the team was much better defensively last season and Kallgren still struggled - so perhaps Wheeler's assessment is a good one. Maybe he's not an NHL goaltender. He's certainly not going to be nipping at Matt Murray or Ilya Samsonov's heels anytime soon. Obviously, the Leafs are hoping that Murray can come back at full health and remain that way for longer stretches this season. We also know that if Murray does struggle with his health at times, Samsonov has been solid enough to trust with the lion's share of the work.
For Kallgren, it's unfortunate that, for whatever reason, he just can't put it together at the NHL level. With points in the standings increasing in value by the minute, I don't think Sheldon Keefe is going to be able to afford to gamble on Kallgren many more times this season. Nor should he want to, given what we've seen from the Swedish netminder.
| POLL | ||
31 OCTOBRE | 343 ANSWERS ''Erik Kallgren is not an NHL goalie'', says popular draft/prospects reporter Do you think Erik Kallgren is an NHL goalie? | ||
| Yes | 113 | 32.9 % |
| No | 230 | 67.1 % |
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