Leafs prospect earns himself Goalie of the Week honours with his stellar play
Just 24 hours ago, we were singing the praises of 2021 Leafs 6th round pick Vyacheslav Peksa, who has been absolutely on fire in the MHL, backstopping his way to 8 shutouts this season. Now we have another Leafs goaltending prospect to celebrate.
Leafs prospect Keith Petruzzelli keeps building off of his strong season in the ECHL. Today, the goaltender was named ECHL Goaltender of the Week. He played in 3 games this past week in which he won all three while posting a .973 save percentage.
This season, Petruzelli has a 9-4-1 record and a .933 save percentage for the Leafs ECHL affiliate, the Newfoundland Growlers. He's also appeared in 1 game for the Marlies where he made 30 saves on 33 shots.
The Leafs' undrafted free agent signing is having a more traditional development for a goalie. COVID-19 hit the ECHL hard and many teams were not playing games. Because of this, we saw many prospects, including Joseph Woll playing in the AHL when perhaps they weren't ready.
The Leafs use the ECHL differently compared to other teams as they treat it similar to a AA minor league affiliate in baseball - rather than a demotion playing there. So far, Petruzzelli is having a spectacular season for the Growlers, showing that the organization may be deeper in goal than we initially thought.
