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He’s big. But is that it? Is that all there is to the Hildebeast? Or is he actually a skilled goaltender with his potential still developing? That’s the crux of the debate over Dennis Hildeby who stands now as the Leafs #3 goalie, poised to be the first called up for any injury coverage.

Hildebeast! pic.twitter.com/VGz1tacNeD

— Pension Plan Puppets (@PPPLeafs) April 3, 2024

Dennis Hildeby
Vitals

Age as of July 1
23.87

Position
G

Height
6’7″

Weight (lbs)
222

Shoots
L

Draft Year
2022

Draft Number
122

The Player

Hildeby signed a new contract with the Leafs last weekend, bringing an end to the traditional summer hockey news-void filling reality show “Why Hasn’t He Signed Yet?” The contract runs three years and will take him out to July 1, 2028 where he will be 26 years old and still a Restricted Free Agent.

So who do we have here? There’s no doubt in my mind he knows how to play the position, and he has all the tools, and, wait weren’t we saying the same thing about Jacob Quillan last week?

Hildeby has legitimate success in the AHL, which has been a tough place to be a Marlies goalie last season, especially in the second half. The division is loaded up with not only high end prospects like the Rochester Americans with three first-round draft picks by the Sabres, but also teams like the Cleveland Monsters with seasoned NHL veterans. None of that changes the fact that his first NHL outings this season were messy at best.

I won’t pretend to be a goalie analyst here, but I’ve asked him about his progress and what he is working on and he consistently says the most work goes into lateral movement, explosiveness as he calls it, or turning puck tracking into actual body movements to be in the correct position, a sort of more advanced form of hand-eye coordination, as it’s not simply your hands but your legs too. As he says it’s, “using quick triggers to get in position for a shot as quick as possible.” In my opinion, watching him now for a few years, you can see he has improved at this, however it’s still unclear what his ceiling is, as it always is for goalies, and the jump to the NHL level takes far more for a goalie than a skater like Quillan.

The Votes

Hildeby produced one of the widest spread in our rankings, from #5 all the way down to #20. To say the opinions vary is an understatement, though he’s one of only a few Leafs goalies to get high level votes in the whole history of our list.

Voter
Vote

Cathy
15

Brigstew
20

Species
5

Hardev
10

shinson93
7

Cameron
6

Zone Entry
5

Svalbard38
6

dhammm
6

adam
5

Weighted Average
8.5

Highest Vote
5

Lowest Vote
20

There’s quite a bit of disagreement here. Let’s get right to it.

The OpinionsBrigstew: He’s very big, he’s been pretty good in the AHL overall but not exceptional. I am waiting for him to have his breakout season like Joseph Woll did before I think he has legitimate NHL level goaltending. For what it’s worth, in Woll’s age comparable season in the AHL, he had a .907 sv% in 15 AHL games, where Hildeby had a .908 sv% in 30 games this past season. The next year, in Woll’s age 24 season, he had a .927 in 21 AHL games and added a .932 in 7 NHL games and got into four playoff games for the Leafs when they faced Florida the first time. If Hildeby has a big leap in him like that, I’ll start believing in him more. But I’m not giving him good odds for it.Shinson93:  Hildeby was forced into a handful of Leafs games this season and will likely get some more this year.  He’ll need to be better, but I think his development has been on a good path so far. I think it will be important for him to get off to a strong start with the Marlies again this year to convince Treliving not to go shopping for a veteran.  He’s had enough time that he should be a leader in the Marlies room.Cathy: I’m still waiting for someone to really detail what this guy does other than be tall. Brig’s comparison to Woll is apt, though. I did not, even a little, buy in on Joe Woll as a prospect. Never. And to be honest, I don’t much buy in on him now, but goalies are difficult to understand, and I don’t claim expertise. But again, what is it other than big? dhammm: High floor because of his size; that he saw NHL ice at all this season is good for him despite his not-great results. As Brigstew wrote, his progression looks fine when compared with Woll’s, so I like Hildeby in the #3 spot this season. Even if there’s real risk that he’s not good enough to hold down an NHL back-up position, we won’t know if he doesn’t get the shot, and I don’t trust anyone on evaluating goaltenders enough to believe that we can know without giving him the opportunity.Svalbard38: It’s tough to start a Hildeby blurb without saying it. He’s big. Going by nhl.com/stats he’s tied for tallest goalie there’s ever been, and if weight is the tiebreaker then he’s the biggest goalie in league history. That’s not enough to build a career out of though, and he’s going to need to grow his confidence and put up some better numbers in the AHL this season. As a side note, I will never forgive JJ Peterka for stopping what would probably have been a Dennis Hildeby goalie goal in his third NHL game. 30 years from now Peterka will be behind the bench for Utah and I’ll frown when I see him for stealing that moment from the Hildebeast.

Dare I say, his situation reminds me of Mason Marchment, yes, that’s kind of an odd comparison, until you understand that I think he’s been underrated as a prospect because time and attention has been diverted to other shiny new things, but this big guy has big league potential, he’s very intelligent about the game, and once he gets the dopamine flowing Hildeby hits a zone where he can consistently play his game and win.

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