Sparks blames the media as part of the reason for his poor play this season

Backup goaltender Garret Sparks made an unexpected return to Toronto Maple Leafs practice yesterday, despite being assigned a 10 day leave to work with Leafs goalie coaches. Steve Briere and Jon Elkin. Sparks’ reappearance with the team will be short lived though, as Michael Hutchinson is expected to re-join the team following the birth of his first child.

“Really [Sparks] is not back here any sooner in my mind,” said Leafs’ coach Mike Babcock. “He’s filling in for a day or two here while Hutch and his wife welcome their child. But the 10-day program he was on, he’s still on. We won’t deviate from that.”

The 25 year old Sparks simply hasn’t been good enough when thrown into the spotlight this season and with the biggest games of the season starting this evening, the Leafs need him to be sharp should starter Frederik Andersen falter.

“I’m in agreement that I haven’t played to the degree we all know I can play,” Sparks said Wednesday afternoon. “Extra work isn’t a bad thing. They just [told me] Hutch would be up for a little bit and it was on me to go do some work. It’s all part of being a pro.”

Since the calendar flipping to 2019, Sparks has been dreadful. He possess a 3-8-0 record with a .898 save percentage since January. The problem? Well… it’s the media, according to Sparks himself.

Check it out:

Really, Garret? The media? Good grief…

You know what? This guy has been a distraction for awhile now… here’s hoping he either figures things out over the next week and a half or that the Leafs just decide to run with Hutchinson as the backup the rest of the way. Heading into a crucial series against the Boston Bruins and they don’t need any distractions like this.