Former Maple Leafs Goalie's Future In Doubt After He Fails to Turn PTO Into NHL Deal
Former Maple Leafs goaltender Michael Hutchinson has officially been released after failing to secure a contract with the New Jersey Devils on his PTO, putting his NHL future in doubt.
In approximately one week, the NHL's 2024-25 regular season will commence, which means that teams will begin announcing a significant number of roster cuts this week to trim down their respective training camp rosters.
Hutchinson, who had spent parts of 4 seasons with the Maple Leafs between 2018-19 and 2021-22, signed a PTO with the New Jersey Devils this off-season in hopes of extending his NHL career. The journeyman backup goalie is now 34 years of age and has managed just 154 games in his NHL career. With today's announcement, his status as a viable NHL goaltender may be in jeopardy.
Hutchinson does still have the option of signing with another NHL club, but with teams looking more towards trimming rather than adding at this stage of the game, it's far more likely that Hutchinson will be waiting for a team to run into injury issues in net than signing a deal before the end of training camps.
Hutchinson's record as an NHL goaltender is 57-62-18. His career SV% is .903 and his career GAA sits at 2.93. These aren't exactly numbers that will stand out to teams on paper, but Hutchinson did post a .917 SV% in his only NHL appearance last season, with the Detroit Red Wings.
The ex-Leaf posted a 14-14-3 record with an underwhelming .892 SV% across 32 appearances with the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins in 2023-24.
