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The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed 28-year-old goaltender Jhonas Enroth to a one-year contract worth $750,000.

Like several Kings backup goalies before him, Enroth’s numbers saw a significant jump in Los Angeles under Darryl Sutter’s defensive system last season as he put up a career-best .922 save percentage over 16 games (including two shutouts) in 2015-16.

A product of the Sabres organization (drafted in the 2nd round in 2006), Enroth’s biggest workload came in 2014-15 when he started 37 games for Buffalo before getting traded as a deadline rental, after which Enroth joined Dallas for the stretch run. He played 50 games total that season and posted a .904 save percentage, but he strung together some impressive performances while fighting an uphill battle behind a historically-bad Sabres team — particularly his 10-3-1 run wherein he posted a .924 save percentage between mid November and late December.

Among the 56 goalies with 80 or more games played since 2010-11, Enroth ranks 43rd in the league with a .911 save percentage.

Enroth shows better in Quality Start Percentage, where he ranks 24th of 65 with a .559. QS% measures how often a goaltender gives his team a chance to win with league average or above goaltending — in other words, the percentage of games in which a goalie achieves at least the mean save percentage for that season — and Enroth has given his team a better than league average percentage of quality starts over his career.

PlayerAgeFromToActiveGPGSSV%SOQS%
Cory Schneider272010201662602490.926210.651
Cam Talbot272013201631131060.924110.557
Henrik Lundqvist312010201663473440.923350.608
Carey Price262010201663133100.923320.59
Tuukka Rask262010201662802700.923240.626
Tim Thomas372010201431641550.923140.619
Ben Bishop272010201662252170.921180.594
Braden Holtby242010201662442360.921230.602
Roberto Luongo342010201663143090.921210.589
Petr Mrazek2220122016494830.9290.614
Tomas Vokoun352010201331251200.92130.525
Thomas Greiss28201120165111950.91940.547
Martin Jones2520132016399940.919130.574
Frederik Andersen252013201631251140.91860.596
Corey Crawford292010201663183090.918180.612
Jonathan Quick282010201663563520.918340.568
Pekka Rinne312010201663343320.918260.59
Semyon Varlamov252010201662922840.918180.563
Craig Anderson322010201662862800.917190.55
Sergei Bobrovsky252010201662672570.917120.584
Devan Dubnyk272010201662792640.917190.538
Brian Elliott282010201662352150.917280.581
Marc-Andre Fleury292010201663513430.917270.551
Jaroslav Halak282010201662662630.917300.578
Anton Khudobin2720102016698910.91750.571
Chad Johnson2720102016596840.91640.571
Robin Lehner22201020166107970.91630.598
Ryan Miller332010201663223190.916190.552
Jake Allen2420122016399890.915110.551
Jonathan Bernier252010201662061870.915110.551
Antti Niemi302010201663443390.915280.54
Mike Smith312010201662792750.915200.542
Kari Lehtonen302010201663373300.914200.548
Michal Neuvirth252010201661781600.914100.531
James Reimer252010201662151960.914140.52
Jimmy Howard292010201663032950.913190.536
Jose Theodore35201020133100940.91340.564
Cam Ward292010201662922860.913110.521
Jonas Hiller312010201662762600.912170.523
Darcy Kuemper2420122016484720.91270.514
Eddie Lack272013201631161030.91280.505
Steve Mason252010201662862760.912150.518
Jhonas Enroth252010201661461270.91170.559
Karri Ramo282013201631101060.91150.5
Niklas Backstrom352010201661831720.9190.488
Ilya Bryzgalov322010201552072000.91180.55
Jean-Sebastien Giguere35201020144105890.9140.539
Miikka Kiprusoff352010201331651630.909100.546
Al Montoya282010201661311060.90940.575
Johan Hedberg3820102013380690.90880.551
Evgeni Nabokov382011201541341300.90890.492
Ondrej Pavelec262010201663102980.908150.473
Ray Emery302010201551241010.90550.525
Curtis McElhinney30201020165108840.90540.44
Ben Scrivens272011201651441300.90570.462
Martin Brodeur402010201551901860.904150.495
Anders Lindback252010201661301020.90430.461
Jacob Markstrom2420102016683730.90400.452
Peter Budaj30201020165100880.90330.409
Scott Clemmensen35201020155100760.90220.461
Jonas Gustavsson292010201661301130.90260.416
Dwayne Roloson4220102012294850.90250.459
Mathieu Garon34201020133102890.940.404
Nikolai Khabibulin402010201441031010.950.416
Dan Ellis32201020155101820.89950.402

His size (5’10) is out of step with the current trend at the goalie position, but the Swede should do the trick as a serviceable backup – if everything goes as planned with Frederik Andersen – for 20 or so starts this season. With Andersen locked in as starter of the future, trading assets for a backup goalie didn’t make sense, and Enroth was the only reasonable option with experience remaining in the free agency pool.

Enroth earned $1.25 million AAV on his last two contracts (a two-year deal with Buffalo, and most recently on a one-year deal in LA), so this is a low number that should help the Leafs‘ cap situation. The Leafs spent just under $6 million on their goaltending tandem of Reimer and Bernier last season, so the hope is they’re spending about the same amount of money but getting a far better return than last season’s .904 team save percentage in all situations (25th in the NHL).

https://twitter.com/generalfanager/status/767777528056512512

Leafs management has addressed the goaltending position at all levels with the addition of four new goalies in the last four months via trade, the draft, and free agency. The number of goalies who can capably play 65+ games and stay healthy can be counted on one hand, so while a quality backup is important, the Leafs are certainly hoping Enroth isn’t asked to play too big of a role this season. With the addition and subsequent long-term extension of Frederik Andersen, the expectation will be that the big Dane can provide the year-over-year quality starting goaltending that has eluded the organization for over a decade.