On Tuesday, the Maple Leafs announced a new three-year contract for former RFA goaltender Dennis Hildeby. The deal is a two-way contract for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons, followed by a one-way contract in 2027-28, and carries an average annual value of $841,667.
The signing technically wraps up the last piece of outstanding offseason business for the Leafs, as Hildeby was their lone remaining restricted free agent. Their other three remaining RFAs on paper — Topi Niemela, Roni Hirvonen, and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev — remain the organization’s property but will be playing overseas next season.
That was never going to be an issue with Hildeby, who started six NHL games last season and is the team’s number three goalie on paper. He will enter the 2025-26 season as the Marlies‘ starting goalie. Considering both Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll have battled injury issues, Hildeby is likely to receive an NHL call-up again if he continues to develop in the right direction.
After a promising rookie season with the Marlies — 41 games, a .913 save percentage, a 2.41 goals against average, and a 21-11-7 record — Hildeby’s numbers took a small step back last season. In only 30 games with the Marlies, his save percentage dropped to .908 while his goals against average inched up to 2.55. In fairness to Hildeby, it was likely partly due to the Leafs yo-yoing him back and forth between leagues; the big Swede didn’t see game action for long stretches while backing up for the big club.
Nevertheless, the Marlies elected to start Matt Murray in the playoffs over Hildeby with their season on the line last spring. It goes without saying that the developing prospect should ideally take the reins in those situations and (hopefully) make a statement. This upcoming season, that’s really the next step for Hildeby, who has been a good AHL goalie to date and now needs to become a great one.
The Leafs are clearly committed to Hildeby and believe in him, as evidenced by the three-year term. The new deal gives the 24-year-old ample time and opportunity to mature his game.
Brad Treliving has made a habit of signing these low-risk deals with term, and this is another understandable bet. He signed Simon Benoit to a three-year extension halfway through his first season with the Leafs, and he signed Bobby McMann to a multi-year deal after he broke out as a scorer at the NHL level. Philippe Myers received a two-year deal this past season, and Steven Lorentz signed a three-year contract over the summer. Treliving also inked Marshall Rifai to a two-year deal that kicks in this season.
Clearly, Treliving is a fan of affording some security for players deeper in the organization’s depth chart in order to retain them and keep their annual averages low/establish cost certainty.
In terms of the NHL impact, I don’t think there is one for the foreseeable future. While Anthony Stolarz is entering the final year of his contract, it’s important to note that the Leafs made Hildeby’s contract a two-way deal for the first two years — meaning, if/when he is sent to the Marlies, he receives a minor-league salary. It’s set up for either a new veteran to arrive next year or for the team to simply re-sign Stolarz should he continue to perform well in Toronto.
Joseph Woll started a career-high 42 games last season — “career high” refers to his entire pro hockey career, not just the NHL — and it was only in part due to Stolarz’s mid-season knee procedure. To feel good about a Woll-Hildeby tandem just one season from now, the Leafs would need A) Stolarz to get hurt again; B) Woll to step in and play a proper starter’s workload (roughly 55 games); c) Woll to generally be very good in those starts, and D) Hildeby to prove a viable backup during that time. It’s a lot to ask, unless they’re simply comfortable with rolling the dice on two inexperienced goalies.
Instead, this contract reads to me like the Leafs simply committing to a young goalie who they clearly rate as promising and want to develop further. Goalies generally take a long time to emerge, and the Leafs have done an underwhelming job of grooming them over the years. In this millennium, we can essentially point to James Reimer and Joseph Woll as the only two homegrown products of note.
Now, the Leafs have a 27-year-old Joseph Woll, who starts his three-year extension this season, playing alongside a stable and quality veteran in Stolarz. Hildeby is signed for three years and will continue to develop. The organization also has another intriguing goalie prospect in the AHL, Artur Akhtyamov, developing alongside Hildeby.
This new Hildeby contract is a fair bet by Brad Treliving and the Leafs as they seek to churn out quality goalies through their system.
