Daily Faceoff Show: How much of a concern is the Leafs goaltender?

In the Toronto Maple Leafs’ chaotic 10-7 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night, one of the biggest problems facing the Leafs right now was further exposed.

Their goalkeeper.

Jack Campbell has gotten off to a good start this season and was in the Vezina conversation, but he’s been down since early December, and Petr Mrazek has yet to find his place in the squad – and it’s starting to cost the games a try. team, even when the offense bails them out.

So Frank Seravalli asked Chris Gear on the Daily Faceoff Show, how concerned is the Leafs goaltender on a scale of 1-10?

Chris Gear: “It must be close to a six or a seven. Jack Campbell started the season so well that he seemed to have answered all the Leafs prayers in goal, but the numbers now show that these are not trends you want to see. as you head into the playoffs for either goalie. Seeing the highlights of this game, I thought I was watching an exhibition game between the Argos and the Lions, it’s pretty crazy.

“I think the Leafs are going to have to seriously consider whether these two guys can take them to the playoffs, or whether they have to consider another option. Campbell has shown he is capable, but again the trend is in the wrong direction.

Frank Seravalli: « I’m much more worried than you, I’m giving it a nine out of ten, and the reason for that is that they’ve shown in the past that their score, at least historically, has dried up when you get to the playoffs. Auston Matthews has three goals in his last 12 Stanley Cup Playoff games.”

“You can’t outrun a bad goaltender in the playoffs. Maybe it’s just a dot on the radar, maybe the Leafs are hoping Campbell OR Mrazek, one of the two, bounces back in time to give them a usable goaltender.

« They can look at defence, they can potentially try to add some toughness up front or a bit of tough skill if they’re interested, but I think you have to do your goalkeeping well, otherwise if you get there in the playoffs, and you think you’re going to have to score 4 or 5 or 6 in one night to outplay your goaltender, I just don’t know that’s the recipe for success.

Equipment: “When you look at some of the trade targets in goal that you’ve identified, you look at Dallas, you could take a player like Holtby or Khudobin just in and around the $2 million mark, and if you were to put Mrazek in the miners to save $1.125 million on his burial charge, it doesn’t take a whole lot of extra space to bring in one of these guys.

“Could that be an option for Toronto? May be. We’ll see if Kyle Dubas has that scale of nervousness that you seem to have for them.

You can watch the full segment from the latest episode of The Daily Faceoff Show here.