TAMPA – Outside of Tuesday’s starter, Joseph Woll, we might not know much about the guys dressing up to play goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs this week.
But at least we have a more clarity of where the club’s original tandem stands — currently, in bubble wrap, with Game 1 of the playoffs a week away — and why the Leafs are continuing to run a fantasy camp for amateur tryout goalies.
In an 11-minute, semi-spontaneous briefing with reporters at Amalie Arena, before rolling out his third ATO backup goaltender in as many games, general manager Kyle Dubas spoke on the curious state of his crease.
Here’s what we know:
• Woll joined the Maple Leafs Tuesday and will start against the Lightning. The league granted the Leafs approval for Woll’s emergency call-up this afternoon, and the club was prepared to start anyone but Ilya Samsonov.
• Yes, Matt Murray has a concussion, suffered on April 2. No, he is not traveling with the team on its final three-game road trip.
“He’s continuing to progress. The discussion on Sunday was that he was trending towards coming, but then the decision was to just leave him and let him rehab and go from there,” Dubas said.
• Playoff starter Samsonov is banged up, will not dress Tuesday and is unlikely to Thursday for the Leafs’ regular-season finale in New York City.
“It’s something he has dealt with, he will deal with,” said Dubas, who declined to specify the injury.
• Tuesday’s ATO backup is 20-year-old Mathias Onuska, who went 17-11-4 this season, with a 4.44 goals-against average and .868 save percentage for the OHL Windsor Spitfires.
Samuel Richard, who put up respectable numbers in the QMJHL and later for the University of New Brunswick, is also traveling with the team.
“We’ve got others in the mix in case we need,” said Dubas, who is going to great lengths to get his ATOs in order.
“It’s been touch-and-go getting them to each individual spot, having them fly in and do different things like that. I don’t even know what number (of amateur golies) we’re at — and counting. We kind of knew this was a possibility last week once Matt went down, with it being in the last 10 games, no LTI relief, not knowing his status. So at that point we put it to our player personnel department, our goaltending department: We might need a list of guys here, in case we’re in this spot.”
• Dubas has heard the criticism for putting Jett Alexander in for 70 seconds of Saturday’s win over Montreal.
“I don’t really care what other people think, frankly, and what other people say about whether he got in because this other team (Edmonton) did it, why would you do it…” Dubas said.
“Jett Alexander has been around our program for a number of years as an ATO guy, as an emergency guy. He donates a lot of his time just in case. He goes out of his way to be there for practices for other teams and our team. The University of Toronto have been great partners for us.
“My reflection is that it was the right thing once it happened. I was here, in (Amalie Arena) when it all transpired. I thought it was a nice thing to do, given what Jett has done.”
• The Leafs will rest stars Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and defenceman Mark Giordano Tuesday, dressing one skater short.
They considered resting players, including Samsonov, Monday in Florida as well. Out of respect for the Eastern clubs still battling for a wild-card spot — Florida, Pittsburgh, the Islanders and Buffalo — Toronto decided to dress a legitimate lineup. And won in overtime.
“It’s a tough one because if we did what was best just for our team, for our situation, we probably would’ve done it differently,” Dubas said. “Sheldon and I had a lot of discussion about it. We just decided it was best. If we were in the spot of those teams, that’s what we would want.”
Bottom line, the near-comical string of amateurs the Maple Leafs are trotting out over the final week of the season is because they are placing playoff health above all else. With home ice secured, results no longer matter.
“Anybody that’s facing any sort of injury, we’ve tried to preserve them,” Dubas said.
“Do right by Matt Murray. Do right by Ilya Samsonov. And get ready to roll for the playoffs.
“Although it’s not something we want to continue to do is roll out ATOs, we’re in a spot where we’re able to do that and be able to function, be able to run out a good lineup, and roll from there.”
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