Goaltending Issues Heading To The Playoffs

2 years ago  /  Kuklas Korner

from Damien Cox at the Toronto Star,


So this week’s Petr Mràzek news was, well, interesting.

Not that you’d ever want to see an athlete injured. So here’s hoping Mràzek, who surely has had a black cloud following him all season, gets better soon.

That said, despite two solid starts of late, it’s not like fans of the Maple Leafs were very much looking forward to Mràzek carrying the load for the rest of the season and into the playoffs. He hasn’t looked durable, reliable or worth a contract that still has two years and $7.6 million left after this season.

His absence left Sheldon Keefe with rookie Erik Källgren and veteran Michael Hutchinson Thursday night against the Winnipeg Jets, not exactly the combination GM Kyle Dubas had in pen on his ideal depth chart board last fall.

But sports are like that, and the teams that succeed are the teams with able replacements. With the trade deadline long past, there’s no options left except for Källgren, Hutchinson and Jack Campbell, who should return soon, possibly to regain his form of the fall. There’s also Joseph Woll, who was bypassed by Källgren on the team’s depth chart.

But before you target the men with the reversible Bieber jerseys for early playoff dismissal solely on the basis of their battered and suspect goaltending situation, you might have a look around the rest of the Eastern Conference first.


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