Edited to show Growlers are playing Icemen this weekend
It was just a little over three months ago when Toronto Maple Leafs fans found themselves wondering what their team was going to do with all its goaltenders.
The team had six netminders with National Hockey League contracts, with four of them having NHL experience. And there was also Michael Garteig, ticketed for the ECHL expansion Newfoundland Growlers on a minor-league contract.
But you know the story. Things can change quickly … and dramatically.
On Thursday afternoon, the Maple Leafs hosted the Minnesota Wild with a goaltending tandem that nobody could have predicted at the beginning of the fall.
Former St. John’s IceCap Michael Hutchinson, who wasn’t with the Toronto organization a week ago, got the start. Kasimir Kaskisuo, probably fifth on the organizational depth if everyone was healthy, was Hutchinson’s backup on what turned to be a 4-3 loss to Minnesota.
And those four NHL-experience goalies Toronto had on Oct. 1?
Two — Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard — are no longer in the Maple Leafs’ organization, both being claimed on pre-season waivers. Meanwhile, No. 1 Frederik Andersen has been sidelined for nearly two weeks with what’s believed to be a groin injury and Garrett Sparks was placed in concussion protocol after taking a puck to the mask in a Wednesday practice.
It’s had a trickle-down effect, all the way down to the Growlers, who will begin a six-game homestand 7 p.m. tonight at Mile One Centre with two goalies who have never played a minute for the expansion team.
Brad Barone will get the start for Newfoundland (20-10-1) against the Jacksonville Icemen (18-13-1).
The 28-year-old native of Medfield, Mass., was with the Growlers for training camp and saw a period-and-a-half worth of action in a preseason game against the Brampton Beast in Deer Lake. However, with Eamon McAdam, signed to a two-way NHL contract, and Garteig with Newfoundland at the time, Barone was released before the start of the season.
After McAdam was called up by Toronto early in the campaign (and eventually wound up with a permanent position with the American Hockey League’s Marlies), the Growlers did express an interest in bringing back Barone, but couldn’t make it happen at the time.
Instead they brought in former Ontario Hockey League stalwart Mario Culina, who proved to be a more than capable to Garteig, winning all five of his starts.
But just before the holidays, Culina informed the Leafs and Growlers that he would be leaving the team, choosing instead to attend university and use the education stipend he had earned in the OHL.
So Newfoundland reached out to Barone again and this time were successful in bringing him on board from the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs of the Southern Professional Hockey League. But while he was with the Growlers for three recent post-Christmas road games, Barone didn’t see any action as Garteig continued with the workhorse act he’s been putting on all season — he’s started 24 of the Newfoundland’s 31 games to dates.
But now Garteig’s with the Marlies, having been recalled Thursday to fill the vacuum created by the recalls of Hutchinson and Kaskisuo to the NHL team, meaning Toronto’s AHL affiliate starts today with goaltenders — McAdam and Garteig — who had been the Growlers’ netminidng pair just 11 weeks ago.
So Barone will get his first start with Newfoundland, although it won’t be his first ECHL appearance. He played seven games with the Norfolk Admirals earlier this season, and has also seen action with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, Atlanta Gladiators and Florida Everblades, and has had call-ups to be a backup for the Reading Royals and South Carolina Stingrays.
But most of his professional action has been in the SPHL, first coming to that league in 2015-16, the year after he finished up his university career at Boston College, where he had been the backup to Vancouver Canucks top prospect and former U.S. world junior Thatcher Demko.
And the 5-11, 175-pound Barone found success in the Southern circuit, earning the league’s goaltender of the year honours last season, after posting a 15-15-2 record, 2.93 goals-against average and .917 save percentage with Roanoke.
As for Barone’s backup tonight, that remains to be seen. The Growlers have claimed netminder Eric Levine on waivers from the Fort Wayne Komets, but there is no guarantee that the 30-year-old Levine, who has also split his professional career between the ECHL and SPHL, will arrive here on time. If he doesn’t, A.J. Whiffen of the Newfoundland Senior Hockey League’s Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts would be a likely choice, seeing he’s already done a couple turns of duty as an emergency backup for the Growlers this season.
The Growlers turned to the senior ranks for a second goalie for practice on Thursday, tabbing Matthew Jenkins of the Conception Bay Blues for the job.
And we’ll also have to wait to see how long Toronto’s goaltending issues go on. Andersen, who is eligible to come off the injured reserve list, has been skating this week, while Sparks could return to action fairly quickly if his evaluation goes well. Still, it might be far too hopeful to expect to get Garteig back in time for Saturday’s rematch with the Icemen, especially with the Marlies playing three games this weekend.
Twitter: @telybrendan
