Happy Wednesday, everyone. I want to begin by assuring you the Leafs don’t play today, so it’ll be a nice calm day. Hit the main page for the recap of last night’s ride on the rollercoaster. We’ve all said it, though, the Leafs can be counted on to come back in the third and score a bucket of goals.
So who is the worst goalie in the NHL?
Philipp Grubauer, the goalie the Kraken thought would be very good this year is the worst goalie by Goals Saved Above Expected on Moneypuck. By looking at total goals, you get a feel for his impact on the team — all bad. A goalie might be worse, but barely play, and cause less total trouble, so he might not be the worst by that measure.
Some fellow named Hugo Alnefelt has 20 minutes played for Tampa, and his Goals Saved Above Expected per 60 is the worst in the NHL this year. Also worse than Grubauer are Michael McNiven, one of the Montréal tank drivers, Carter Hutton, who is technically a Maple Leaf, Alex Stalock, and really a lot of people, including Michael Hutchinson, who I swear I don’t even remember him playing.
Much less amusing is that Petr Mrázek is only three places better on the list.
This game is not as much fun as I thought. On to some news:
Darren Dreger reported on the Leafs broadcast that Jake Muzzin will be out a month. Which is an interesting thing to be able to know the first day he is seen skating:
Jake Muzzin back on the ice as he works his way back from a concussion @TSN_Sports pic.twitter.com/gR9yCrfcWa
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) March 8, 2022
Wayne Simmonds gets his silver stick pic.twitter.com/YaAEoj2LS8
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) March 9, 2022
@PatrikWestberg "OJOJOJOJOJ PONTUS HOLMBERG PANG BOM SWISH" (🔊) 😍 pic.twitter.com/zfeesxZVQi
— Patrik Carlsson (@CarlssonPk) March 8, 2022
The SHL is very nearly finished their regular season, and Pontus Holmberg should be doing that in the playoffs before Jake Muzzin is back.
Meanwhile in Arizona, Nick Ritchie just scored his second goal in five games. That matches his goal total through 33 games in Toronto. https://t.co/IbaHAdh20U
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) March 9, 2022
Hmmmm. I wonder if goal-scoring is partly a function of ice time? Someone should check on that.
Oh, and speaking of, the Leafs host Nick Ritchie, Travis Boyd and Alex Galchenyuk as well as Phil Kessel on Thursday. Obviously Phil isn’t going to let a little thing like a baby get in the way of the streak:
The Coyotes set up a charter flight, allowing Kessel to return to Phoenix for this important life event.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 9, 2022
Oh, and speaking of Friedman, he tweeted this:
ANA GM Pat Verbeek has notified teams he is willing to gauge the market on his free agents. It doesn’t necessarily mean one (or all) will be traded, but he is doing his due diligence.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 8, 2022
Right after it was announced that Anaheim claimed Andrej Sustr on waivers. I guess they needed a new defenceman for ~reasons.
That’s all for today, have a good one.
