Toronto Maple Leafs signing Hutchinson reveals expansion draft plan
The Toronto Maple Leafs agreed to a two-year deal with Michael Hutchinson which adds some insurance with next year’s expansion draft.
Seeing the news that Michael Hutchinson was returning to the Toronto Maple Leafs on a two-year deal, it should have been obvious why the signing was made.
Really there are a couple of reasons but the important one is the looming Seattle expansion draft in 2021. Considering how the Vegas Golden Knights exposed some teams leading into the 2017 draft, teams will try to learn from their mistakes.
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For Toronto, there are requirements the team needs to meet and they obviously want to avoid losing a player of significant value. In 2017, Vegas took Brendan Leipsic from the Leafs which you’ll gladly accept and you can only hope that Seattle doesn’t get their hands on a decent player.
The expansion rules state that a team can go two routes with who they can protect whether it’s the 7-3-1 (seven forwards, three defencemen, one goalie or the 8-1 options (eight skaters and one goalie). There doesn’t appear to be a significant player who would be in trouble of getting exposed unless you consider Justin Holl or Travis Dermott to be those players.
This brings us to the Hutchinson news because he fits the criteria for the expansion draft and the Leafs only have Jack Campbell under contract past the 2020-21 season. At the same time, this now leaves some questions about the future of the Leafs goaltending position going forward.
Toronto has six goalies under contract going into this season in Frederik Andersen, Campbell, Joseph Woll, Ian Scott and now Aaron Dell and Hutchinson who were added this off-season. That’s a lot of bodies and a limited number of opportunities for them to play as well.
We know that Andersen and Campbell will be at the top of the Leafs goaltending depth chart next season and Dell will be right behind them as an insurance policy in case of injury. However, if the Leafs choose to waive Dell ahead of the season, they might lose him as they did with Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard a few years back.
Having Hutchinson would at least ensure that the Toronto Marlies have some goalie depth and either Woll or Scott battling for playing time. This is certainly a situation that will require some juggling but it’s better to have options than to go into next season struggling to find a suitable goalie especially if COVID-19 presents any issues.
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What does the signing of Hutchinson suggest to you? Are you concerned about what this means for Woll and Scott moving forward? Let us know in the comments below.