Swedish netminder officially headed to Toronto
For the first time in what feels like forever, the Leafs have a solid goalie pipeline going. Joseph Woll, Erik Källgren, Keith Petruzzelli and Dryden McKay have been impressive with the Marlies (AHL) and Growlers (ECHL). Vyacheslav Peksa and Artur Akhtyamov have played very well with their KHL/VHL clubs. As for Dennis Hildeby, his season with Farjestads BK Karlstad in the SHL ended on Tuesday. Hildeby finished the season with an 11-9-0 record but a promising .918 sv%.
Now that his SHL season is done, Hildeby has been shipped across the Atlantic to join the Toronto Marlies. He should be easy to spot, even for those who aren't familiar with him. He'll be the 6'6» monster towering over the crease in the Marlies end. The Hildebeast, as he's been affectionately named, will extend his season and get a taste of AHL action before joining the team full time next season where he'll have a chance to compete for the starting job.
At this point it's unclear what this means for Woll. In his few NHL starts this season he's been excellent, holding the best save percentage of any goalie to play for the Leafs this season, albeit in a much smaller sample size. Still, his run of excellent play may force the Leafs to cut bait with either pending RFA Ilya Samsonov or Matt Murray (1 year remaining at $4.6875M). If this were to happen, Hildeby may quickly rise to "next in line" status, if he can outplay the likes of McKay, Petruzzelli and potentially Källgren (pending RFA).
