Toronto Maple Leafs fans divided on Frederik Andersen criticism

Two games into the season and we find ourselves in a similar situation with the Toronto Maple Leafs and starting goaltender Frederik Andersen.

After allowing five goals against the Ottawa Senators, Andersen has allowed nine through his first two starts and it is starting the raise some questions among Leafs fans. At the same time, there are also many who are defending the Leafs starter saying that he hasn’t received adequate support from his defence.

Head coach Sheldon Keefe said the entire team needs to be better defensively but also said that Andersen can play a part in reducing the number of goals allowed.

"“Obviously, too many pucks have gone in the net, but as we’ve talked about a number of times, that’s not all on him. We’ve got to do a better job in front of him,” Keefe said after the game. “We need to improve in a lot of areas. I think Fred would probably agree that goaltending is one of them. But there’s a lot of other things happening out there that we’ve got to get better at.”"

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Essentially what Keefe is saying is that no one is spared from criticism two games in but not one person is to blame as well. With Jack Campbell starting on Saturday, many will be looking to see if there could be a goaltending controversy brewing if he performs better than Andersen.

Now, it’s important when making a comparison after Saturday’s game to see if the Leafs play with a similar effort in front of Campbell or if they tighten up defensively after getting exposed by Ottawa? For many, this could be a great opportunity for Campbell to make his pitch to earn more starts than just playing on back-to-back nights.

Some will say that it is too early to worry about Andersen’s performance considering this is something that we have seen from him in the past. At the same time, you cannot blame fans that are worried.

This is supposed to be a make-it-or-break-it year for Andersen considering he needs a new contract. He isn’t going to earn a lot of support if he has performances like this but we also know two games isn’t enough of a sample size to provide a justified opinion.

Really, those who are unhappy with Andersen are expressing frustration from seeing the same trend from the past five seasons. A 4.47 GAA and .839 save percentage obviously doesn’t look good and he doesn’t have as much time to sort through them considering it’s a 56-game season.

What are your thoughts on Andersen’s play so far this season? Is there too much blame being placed on him for how many goals the Leafs have allowed? Let us know in the comments below.