Insider reveals Leafs could manipulate roster to avoid losing player to Tampa
Last week, the Tampa Bay Lightning revealed that Andrei Vasilevskiy will be out 8 to 10 weeks following surgery on his back. That means the Lightning will be relying on Jonas Johansson, who has played just 35 career NHL games, to carry the load for the first couple months of the season. Additionally, the Lightning do not have much depth in the goaltending department in their system either with 22-year-old Hugo Alnefelt and 29-year-old Matt Tomkins being the only other goalies in their organization. Neither of them has played an NHL game.
With the lack of depth in the organization, the Lightning are looking at possible trade candidates and keeping a close eye on the waiver wire, but, like the Leafs, are tight against the cap. As soon as the news of Vasilevskiy's injury broke, everyone immediately looked at the Leafs and Martin Jones.
Jones signed a 1-year deal with the Leafs just before training camp worth $875K. Given Tampa's current situation, TSN's Chris Johnston was asked if the Leafs could carry three goalies to begin the season on TSN 1050's First Up on Tuesday morning to avoid losing Jones to Tampa. Here's what CJ had to say on the subject:
"I think it'll be difficult but not impossible (to carry 3 goalies)Seems every team that has 3 goalies is waiting for another team to put their goalie on waivers first It could be Jones, but they (Tampa) have options around the league. Detroit is carrying three, it'll come down to James Reimer and Alex Lyon. Buffalo's got 3 goalies there's other options around the league for Tampa, that could be easy. The one thing all those players don't have in common unless it's Reimer is that Jones has played a lot of games in the league."
Johnston noted that if the Leafs were to carry three goalies, there would be a lot of movement of players in order to roster 18 skaters and 3 goalies, but it could be done. Given that the Leafs have always appeared to be a target of teams on the waiver wire, carrying 3 goalies may be the way to go, until the dust settles at least. If the Leafs don't send Jones down through waivers, it would force Tampa to take a chance on an unknown commodity, or seek a solution elsewhere, which could send their season off the rails before Vasilevskiy is available. Regardless, it will be a busy week for the Leafs as they figure out how to ice the best possible roster while ensuring cap compliance, without losing anyone on waivers.
| POLL | ||
4 OCTOBRE | 1022 ANSWERS Insider reveals Leafs could manipulate roster to avoid losing player to Tampa Will the Leafs run 3 goalies to start the season? | ||
| Yes | 566 | 55.4 % |
| No | 456 | 44.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
