A new addition created more questions than answers at the Toronto Maple Leafs backup goaltending position on Tuesday.
What we know: The Toronto Marlies have signed Karri Ramo, who had been practicing with the Leafs earlier in the season, to a Professional Tryout Agreement. Jhonas Enroth, placed on waivers yesterday, cleared without a claim and will now reside in goalie purgatory with the Marlies for the foreseeable future. Recent call-up Antoine Bibeau will serve as the backup behind Frederik Andersen, at least in the interim.
Ramo, 30, was the Flames’ on-and-off starter for the previous three seasons, averaging 37 games played per year. Over those three seasons, he’s 40th out of 51 in combined save percentage among goaltenders with 60 or more games played (.911). Prior to wrecking his knee in a collision with San Jose’s Joonas Donskoi last February, Ramo played 37 of the Flames’ first 53 games, posting a 17-18-1 record with a .909 save percentage (32nd of 42 among NHL goalies with more than 30 games played in 2015-16). Those are not the strongest numbers, although his quality start percentage (QSP) of .541 (against a league average of .530) was the best QSP mark of his five years in the NHL.
It’s tough to say whether the Leafs would’ve gone the Amateur Tryout route if Enroth was claimed or if they would’ve signed Ramo right into the team’s backup role. They’ve already got four professional goaltenders signed among their 48 total Standard Player Contracts (SPC), and are waiting to find out the result of the Jared Cowen buyout arbitration this week. If the buyout is allowed to proceed, the Leafs’ SPC number remains at 48 out of a maximum of 50. A decision in Cowen’s favour would mean the injured defenceman is back on the Leafs’ books for the remainder of the season, giving the Leafs just one contract slot to play with.
Considering Ramo hasn’t seen any game action since February 11, 2016 and underwent a major knee reconstruction, it makes sense to see how he holds up physically at the AHL level first, as well as find out what kind of shape his game is in at this stage, before making a contractual commitment for the remainder of the year.
It appears Enroth, Ramo and Garret Sparks will now comprise the Marlies’ goaltending rotation for the time being, with Jeff Glass also still in the picture on a tryout agreement. The goalie carousel is nothing new for the Marlies, who had eight different goaltenders start at least one game for them last season: Ryan Massa, Rob Madore, Jonathan Bernier, Alex Stalock, Garret Sparks, Ray Emery, Kasimir Kaskisuo, and Antoine Bibeau. The Marlies will play four games in seven days starting on Wednesday in Utica.
Meanwhile, Bibeau will serve as the backup behind Frederik Andersen for now, although that doesn’t seem like anything more than a stopgap measure barring something unforeseen. Bibeau’s performance in the month of October was outstanding – he won AHL goaltender of the month honours with a 5-0-1 record and a .944 save percentage — but he came back to Earth in November, and his career numbers through two and a bit professional seasons don’t scream “NHL ready.” He’s worn the ball cap as the backup on a couple of different occasions, but Bibeau is yet to make his NHL debut.
And that may not change, even with a busy stretch of schedule upcoming for the Leafs. Mike Babcock indicated in today’s media availability that he is going to ride Frederik Andersen hard over the next little while. Tomorrow’s tilt against Minnesota is the Leafs’ only game in the span of six days, but a back-to-back on the weekend kicks off a stretch of five games in eight days – the sort of situation where having a capable backup goaltender would come in handy. All told, the Leafs will play eighteen back-to-back sets this season, tied for highest in the league.
While the recent play of Andersen has bought the Leafs the luxury of some time to evaluate and identify the best solution at the number-two spot moving forward, this certainly wasn’t ‘plan A’ coming into the season. GM Lou Lamoriello indicated in August that the team was aiming for a “minimum 20, 22 or 24” starts from Enroth. He also hinted at the need for precautions with Andersen, knowing the Leafs’ number one had yet to experience a heavy starter’s workload in his NHL career before arriving in Toronto.
Lamoriello: If you look at the number of back to backs that we have, I think we are around the top of the league. I think it’s around 20-plus. I think you’ll see Jhonas playing a minimum of 20. Mike and I have spoken about that. You never put that in cement. You never know what the situation is. And also, Freddie has not really had a complete season where he played 82 games, or 70 games. We have to respect that. I’ve had experience with that when Cory Schneider was in a similar situation, although Freddie has played more coming into the starting role than Cory did. You have to be careful with that. That is a process. You have to respect that as far as getting used to playing that. Also, this year is a unique year with the World Cup. Also, the way the new rule is with reference to a couple of breaks in the year – one in particular that we have, added to the All-Star break. Having said all that, he’ll be in at least a minimum of 20, 22, 24 games.
The four bad starts from Enroth – combined with an excellent last 15 games from Andersen — appear to have the Leafs setting aside best-laid plans and throwing caution to the wind. Thus far, Andersen has started 20 of 24 games, putting him on pace for 68 appearances over a full 82-game season. Andersen’s career high is 54 games back in 2013-14, and only one goaltender in the entire league featured in 68 games last season in Los Angeles’ Jonathan Quick (he played 68 exactly).
That might not be the best course of action if the Leafs want to ensure Andersen’s first season of a new five-year contract is a successful and healthy one.
