Former Leafs goalie admits to being bitter when Kyle Dubas turned his back on him
On October 2, 2018, Curtis McElhinney was claimed off of waivers by Carolina from the Leafs after Kyle Dubas made the decision to give Garrett Sparks an opportunity to serve as the club's backup. McElhinney went on to play 33 games for the Canes in the 208/19 season before moving to Tampa the next two seasons where he won back-to-back Stanley Cups before retiring at the end of the 2020-21 season.
Yesterday, McElhinney was on The JD Bunkis Podcast and opened up about his time in Toronto and his departure. "I was so bitter, so bitter. I loved it there. It was the first time I found a home and felt like I'd had success that I'd been looking for a lot of my career. It seemed like it was a perfect fit...It all came together, but it was a tough pill to swallow. It's one of those things you have to accept some things that don't really add up in your mind, it's just the way it works... In reality I don't think the expectations were that long for me or that high for me at the time, but it obviously worked out well for me in the short time I was there."
McElhinney showed no bitterness towards Sparks as he was a homegrown product of the Leafs and had had success with the Marlies, but you have to wonder if the season would have gone differently if they had held onto McElhinney instead of going with Sparks. McElhinney went 22-11-2 with the Canes that season while Sparks went a dismal 8-9-1 with the Leafs in what was his only real NHL opportunity. He went on to play just 3 more games over the next two seasons with Vegas and LA.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 12 | 1093 ANSWERS Former Leafs goalie admits to being bitter when Kyle Dubas turned his back on him Did Kyle Dubas make a huge mistake in waiving McElhinney back in 2018? | ||
| Definitely | 745 | 68.2 % |
| No, it was the right call at the time | 208 | 19 % |
| It's so hard to say | 140 | 12.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
