Leafs have new trade plan for goaltending situation

On Tuesday, the Toronto Maple Leafs called up goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. The move took place after the Leafs placed goaltender Michael Hutchinson on waivers Monday. This obviously left a hole in the team’s backup goaltending position, but the hope is that Kaskisuo can step in and give it a shot. 

However, it also prompted many to believe that Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas would go out onto the trade market and acquire a veteran backup goalie to bring to Toronto. 

The TSN Insider Trading panel explained on Tuesday night that despite the desires from the fanbase to get better experience in better the pipes, it seems like a new trade plan is in place. Or no plan at all, in fact. 

“Well, right now he’s going to get an opportunity, Kasimir Kaskisuo, to be the backup goaltender of the Toronto Maple Leafs,” explained Bob McKenzie. 

“Right now the Toronto Maple Leafs are not in the market for a veteran backup goaltender. They want to give Freddie Andersen, obviously, his start on Wednesday against the Islanders, probably Friday night against the Boston Bruins. We’ll probably see Kaskisuo, if Mike Babcock holds firm to his philosophy, playing in the back half of the back-to-back games, and that would be Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Right now they want to give Kasimir Kaskisuo his chance to prove he’s an NHL backup. We’ll see how it fares. There are five more back-to-back situations for the Toronto Maple Leafs between now and the end of December.”

The 26-year-old has played eight games for the Marlies this season and has put up an impressive .928 save percentage and 2.13 goals against average. He has yet to play an NHL game in his four year pro career, but has performed admirably over the past two seasons with the Marlies.

We just don’t know how much time the Maple Leafs will give him to prove himself before they go back to the drawing board and get another trade plan going.