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The Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking to add a goaltender this summer, but if it is not a trade for a big time starter like Juuse Saros or Jacob Markstrom, is the rumored fallback of signing free agent Laurent Brossoit an adequate means of addressing their needs between the pipes?
Numerous reports this week have indicated that the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent and Toronto have mutual interest when he hits the open market on July 1 and the Leafs will be looking to fill the gap created by the departure of Ilya Samsonov, and the end of the contracts of Matt Murray and Martin Jones.
In the positive column, the 31-year-old is experienced (141 NHL games over a 10-year career who made his first start with Edmonton in 2014-15) and has put up superb stats (.918, .925, .927, & .927 save %) with Winnipeg and Vegas. In the negative, he has played for two of the better defensive clubs in the Jets and Golden Knights (which helps in garnering those gaudy numbers), his career-high in games is 24 (with Vegas), and he has never been anything more than a solid backup.
The Leafs are at the minimum looking for a tandem partner for Joseph Woll to lighten the workload on a goaltender who has yet to prove that he can stay healthy, and someone who can step up into a primary starter if Woll does get hurt again. That does not seem to fit what Brossoit is. There has also been the suggestion that the Leafs bring back one of the veterans (either Jones or Murray) as a #3, since youngster Dennis Hildeby may not be ready to play in the NHL just yet.
This might indicate that GM Brad Treliving has a limited budget to address the Leafs goaltending issues. The primary need is upgrades on defense while adding a goalie may be second (or even third) on the list of priorities. The Leafs had Samsonov under contract at $3.55 million last season, and if they sign Brossoit, it is likely that his cap hit would be lower than that, which means with the Mitch Marner as yet unresolved, he will have to squeeze in a stop-gap goaltender to partner with Woll. It also means that it is likely that one or both of Max Domi and Tyler Bertuzzi will not be back.
As it has been clear for weeks now, the Leafs making the necessary changes to improve on defense and be a more well-rounded team will be next to impossible if they cannot move out one of the core group at the draft or in early July. If that window passes, Treliving will likely be relegated to addressing around the edges with adds like Brossoit and not making consequential moves.
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