Leafs sign Hobey Baker winning goalie to AHL deal
The Toronto Maple Leafs appear to have added a very promising young goaltender to their already solid stable of young goaltending prospects in 24-year-old Dryden McKay.
McKay had spent the last 4 seasons with Minnesota State University, where his GAA was never above 1.76 and his save percentage was never below .924 over a full season. He was also this year's top ranked NCAA player, taking home the 2022 Hobey Baker award. The most recent goaltender to win the award was Ryan Miller back in 2001.
The American goaltender recently made headlines when he was slapped with a six-month sanction for being found in violation of an anti-doping rule by the USADA. On April 14th, McKay accepted the USADA's sanction, admitting to using a vitamin D3 product called Quercetin, a plant-based antioxidant and anti-inflammatory used as an immunity booster to help prevent contracting COVID-19 and the Omicron variant. McKay was taking Quercetin at the recommendation of a trainer.
The name of the banned substance that was found in the product that McKay had been using is osterine, which is known to prevent involuntary weight loss and can be used as a performance enhancing drug, though there were only very small trace amounts of it found in his system. It was determined to have come from a tainted supplement.
McKay on his six-month sanction
The undrafted McKay is the NCAA's all-time record holder for career shutouts with an astonishing 34 shutouts across 140 games with Minnesota State. He also set an NCAA Division I record for wins in a season with 38 this year.
McKay signed a two-year AHL deal with the Toronto Marlies, which will be a good spot for him to get his feet wet at the pro level with one of Joseph Woll or Erik Kallgren very likely to be a full-time NHL backup next season.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 25 | 249 ANSWERS Leafs sign Hobey Baker winning goalie to AHL deal Will Dryden McKay develop into an NHL-caliber goaltender? | ||
| Yes | 205 | 82.3 % |
| No | 44 | 17.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
