NEWARK, N.J. — The Beast is released.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will start prospect Dennis Hildeby in net Thursday at the New Jersey Devils‘ home opener in Newark.
“He’s played well in pre-season. Really liked his game in Montreal in pre-season, so he’ll be in net tonight,” head coach Craig Berube announced a couple hours before puck drop.
“He knows what he’s doing. He’s had some experience. Not a lot. But, again, he’s just gonna go and do his job and play his game.”
Having Hildeby — affectionately known as “The Hildebeast” — make his NHL debut two days into this campaign was not the original plan.
Already down one goalie, Joseph Woll (lower body), the Maple Leafs are exercising caution here.
They don’t want to overwork Anthony Stolarz, who was superb in Wednesday’s 1-0 opening-night loss, by playing him back-to-back in different road cities.
The 23-year-old Hildeby was somewhat a surprise emergency call-up over veteran Matt Murray, who was slotted as Toronto’s No. 3 goalie in training camp and successfully cleared waivers earlier this week.
Why Hildeby over Murray?
“Yeah, that’s a management thing,” Berube said.
Hildeby was called up to the NHL last season when the Leafs were dealing with goalie injuries but never saw so much as a minute of action.
Leafs-turned-Devils coach Sheldon Keefe memorably used third-stringer Martin Jones on a back-to-back in California instead of giving Hildeby his debut.
Now, it’s Keefe’s offensively charged Devils whom the towering six-foot-seven Swede must stop in his debut.
“Just like Stolly, he’s so big,” says Steven Lorentz with a smile. “You’re coming down and you’re looking for somewhere to shoot. So a guy like me will probably chip it in the corner rather than try and go high glove or something like that.
“Some big guys too, they take up a lot of net, so it’s pretty intimidating being a shooter.”
“That’s why teams want to draft a big goalie,” Max Pacioretty adds. “That’s why a lot of the top goalies are big.”
Hildeby delivered an all-star performance for the AHL Marlies last season, his first in North America.
The fourth-round draft pick (2022) posted a 21-11-7 record with a .913 save percentage for the Marlies in 2023-24.
The Leafs are making one other lineup adjustment, inserting forward Bobby McMann and scratching Ryan Reaves.
Jacob Markstrom starts in the Devils net.