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The Toronto Maple Leafs will be one of many NHL clubs looking to address their goaltending situation in some respect this summer, but the question before GM Brad Treliving is whether the club will be looking for someone to backup Joseph Woll, with the idea of the 25-year-old being the primary starter, a tandem partner to split the duties down the middle or for the Leafs to acquire a primary starter.
Treliving expressed confidence in Woll’s abilities at the end-of-season press conference last month, but questions remain about his durability after two serious injuries occurred during the regular season and playoffs. The injury uncertainty would pretty much rule out adding an experienced backup, so that leaves either a acquiring a tandem partner or starter to replace the departing Ilya Samsonov.
In both instances, the amount of cap space and what assets he has to work with will be factors that affect Treliving’s course of action. Names such as Linus Ullmark, Jacob Markstrom and Juuse Saros have been bandied about in the rumor mill, but the Leafs have not been connected to the Bruins or Flames goalie, and Saros might only make sense in a larger deal for Mitch Marner. It could be time once again for the annual John Gibson to Toronto rumors to commence, as there has been renewed chatter that the Ducks could be shopping their longtime netminder.
One possibility not getting a great deal of mention is Jordan Binnington. The Blues netminder bounced back with a .913 save percentage last season, but St. Louis appears to be in a reset scenario and has a young netminder in 23-year-old Joel Hofer ready to step in as the primary starter.
Free agency would only cost the Leafs cap space, but there are not a great deal of attractive options. Laurent Brossoit had excellent stats backing up Connor Hellebuyck, but has never handled a workload over 30 games. Alex Nedeljkovic was the go-to guy down the stretch for Pittsburgh over Tristan Jarry, An aging Cam Talbot was great early in the season but faltered.
Names like Antti Raanta, Scott Wedgewood, and James Reimer do not excite, and dare one to mention Martin Jones or Matt Murray as possible options and that would just illustrate the dilemma that Treliving faces.
As much as the Marner situation will be a focal point of the Leafs offseason, the pursuit of defensive help and goaltending will be just as critical.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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