{"id":25288,"date":"2025-07-26T10:34:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T10:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/25288\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T10:34:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T10:34:10","slug":"maple-leafs-should-add-beleaguered-goalie-to-boost-depth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/25288\/","title":{"rendered":"Maple Leafs Should Add Beleaguered Goalie to Boost Depth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"780\" height=\"438\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/georgiev-e1753498064478.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"The Toronto Maple Leafs should look into signing a beleaguered former Sharks and Avalanche goalie to boost depth.\"   decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The Toronto Maple Leafs should look into signing a beleaguered former Sharks and Avalanche goalie to boost depth.<\/p>\n<p>The Toronto Maple <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nhl\/toronto-maple-leafs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Leafs<\/a> have one of the best goalie tandems in the NHL. The only caveat is that said tandem isn\u2019t always healthy. That\u2019s why the club should look into signing UFA goalie Alexander Georgiev to boost depth.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/mapleleafs\/player\/anthony-stolarz-8476932\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Anthony Stolarz<\/a> and Joseph Woll took turns leading the Leafs to a solid regular season. In the playoffs, Stolarz and Woll could hardly be blamed for the way things turned out.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, things get kind of thin beyond Stolarz and Woll. At various points, the Maple Leafs had to turn to third-string options. However, Dennis Hildeby and Matt Murray weren\u2019t precisely the most reliable options.<\/p>\n<p>Hildeby played well for a couple of games and then got shellacked in the rest. Murray was fine, but not the sort of third-stringer that could come in and save the day.<\/p>\n<p>So, going further down the trough, things don\u2019t seem overly encouraging. For starters, Hildeby is an RFA this summer. He\u2019s sort of slipped through the cracks. But the Maple <a href=\"https:\/\/puckpedia.com\/team\/toronto-maple-leafs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Leafs<\/a> likely get around to re-signing him. He\u2019s a good option for the Marlies. That\u2019s why the organization wouldn\u2019t like to part with him willingly.<\/p>\n<p>Then, <a href=\"https:\/\/puckpedia.com\/team\/toronto-maple-leafs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">PuckPedia reports<\/a> Artur Akhtyamo and Vyacheslav Peksa as the other goalies in the team\u2019s depth chart. They\u2019re prospects for now, and because of that, won\u2019t be a factor in the NHL at this point.<\/p>\n<p>So, what options to the Maple Leafs have if one of Stolarz or Woll goes down again this upcoming season?<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s where the Maple Leafs should look into signing <a href=\"https:\/\/puckpedia.com\/player\/alexandar-georgiev\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Alexandar Georgiev<\/a>. Georgiev is a decent backup at this point in his career and would be a fantastic third-string option to boost the organization\u2019s depth in the crease.<\/p>\n<p>Maple Leafs Could Offer Georgiev Fresh Start<\/p>\n<p>Alexandar Georgiev started this past season with the Colorado <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nhl\/colorado-avalanche\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">Avalanche<\/a>. Unfortunately, he got off to a rocky start in Colorado. So, the Avalanche shipped him off to the San Jose Sharks in December for MacKenzie Blackwood.<\/p>\n<p>Blackwood was great for the Avalanche, while Georgiev continued to struggle in San Jose. The Sharks finished at the bottom of the league and landed the second overall pick. The club moved on from Georgiev and had anointed prospect Yaroslav Askarov as its starting netminder.<\/p>\n<p>That leaves Georgiev looking for another kick at the NHL can. But it doesn\u2019t seem like the phone is ringing off the hook. With a starting job out of the question, a backup role seems like the most fitting role at this point.<\/p>\n<p>But a contending team, like the Maple Leafs, could see value in Georgiev as a depth goalie. If injuries strike, and they will, having an experienced, if unspectacular, goalie like Georgiev could be a great option.<\/p>\n<p>Georgiev Adds Depth to the Marlies<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unlikely the Maple Leafs carry three goalies all season long. It would be nice if they could, but cap space won\u2019t allow it.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why signing Georgiev likely means sending him to the Marlies to start the season. Unless one of Woll or Stolarz starts the season on IR, Georgiev could become the starter with the Marlies.<\/p>\n<p>That situation would create a Georgiev-Hildeby tandem that could sustain the Marlies all season long. Moreover, adding Georgiev to the AHL mix allows the Marlies to be a competitive team. That could be a minor objective, but one certainly worth pursuing.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/nestorquixtanhernandez\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nestor Quixtan<\/a> Seasoned NHL analyst focused on covering all 32 teams with news, analysis, and insights. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Nestor&#8217;s singular experiences and background have enabled him to bring a different take on the sports world as a whole. <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/nestorquixtanhernandez\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More about Nestor Quixtan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Maple Leafs\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Toronto Maple Leafs should look into signing a beleaguered former Sharks and Avalanche goalie to boost&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-25288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}