Brad Treliving reveals who he believes will take the starting job in Toronto

PUBLICATION

David Macintyre
August 28, 2023 (9:40)

SHARE THIS STORY

Brand New #1 Between the Pipes?

New Leafs GM Brad Treliving has wasted no time marking his fingerprints on next season's roster. Fresh off re-signing Auston Matthews to a monster four-year extension, he's also given his thoughts on what the Leafs' goalie situation could look like.

While speaking to the media on Friday, Treliving expressed confidence in the quality of his goaltending, saying he believes Joseph Woll is a candidate to eventually challenge for the role of #1 netminder in Toronto.

Comparing Leafs' Top Three Goalies

The Leafs have an interesting situation in the crease going into next season, and Treliving's quote about Woll doesn't seem unreasonable when you break it down. Assuming Matt Murray will remain on LTIR with a concussion going into this coming season, the Leafs' goalie options are Woll, Ilya Samsonov, and newly-acquired Martin Jones, each of whom have interesting cases for game time this season.

Woll, 25, put up glittering numbers � a .932 SV% and 2.16 GAA � while winning six out of seven NHL games after being called up from the Marlies. He put up similarly high numbers in the AHL over 21 games (winning 16), posting a .927 SV% and 2.37 GAA. At worst, it seems like Woll is ready to be backup for the big club.

Treliving also says Ilya Samsonov is capable of growing further, and though his win percentage last season isn't as glowing (27 wins in 42 games), he still put up a 2.33 GAA and .919 SV% while handling a big workload. Provided he can continue this pace, Samsonov may very well hang onto the #1 goalie title for the foreseeable future.

New Guy in Town

Third-choice goalie Martin Jones arrives in Toronto with 444 NHL games played, and with 48 games (and 27 wins) in net for the Seattle Kraken last season. His stats last year are easily the worst of the three, though, since Jones only posted a .887 SV% and 2.95 GAA. That GAA total is, however, Jones' best since the 2018-19 season.

While with the San Jose Sharks, Jones posted four straight 30+-win seasons as he took on heavy workloads of 60+ games each per season. He helped lead the Sharks to the Stanley Cup Final in 2016, losing in six games to the Pittsburgh Penguins.