TORONTO — The last thing you want to be dealing with on the eve of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is a question involving your backup goaltender.
Or a series of them.
Yet there Mike Babcock was after a spirited Wednesday practice, explaining the surprising return of Garret Sparks to the Toronto Maple Leafs just five days into a team-imposed 10-day break designed to help him "get his game back."
Sparks was whisked away from his private sessions on the Marlies pad and repatriated with his former stall inside the Maple Leafs dressing room after Michael Hutchinson’s wife went into labour. It was unclear if Hutchinson would be available to back up Frederik Andersen for Thursday’s Game 1 in Boston, as originally planned, but Sparks joined the team for its Wednesday afternoon flight there, which certainly wasn’t.
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"Really he’s not back here any sooner in my mind," Babcock said of Sparks. "He’s filling in for a day or two here while Hutch and his wife obviously welcome their child.
"In the meantime, though, the 10-day program that he was on, he’s still on that program. We won’t deviate from that."
You’d be hard pressed to find any precedent for this situation. It’s far from standard operating procedure.
Without warning, Sparks was sent away on the second last day of the regular season while Hutchinson was recalled to back up Andersen for Game 82 in Montreal. He wasn’t a participant in practice earlier this week – putting in early-morning work with members of the Leafs development staff and extra defencemen Igor Ozhiganov and Justin Holl instead – only to find himself back for the last Leafs tuneup for the Bruins.
Sparks kept a stiff upper lip when asked about the organization’s decision to give him a break from the team. Normally quite candid with reporters, the 25-year-old had his media session cut short after six questions and less than two minutes on Wednesday.
"It’s not about me right now, you know?" said Sparks. "It’s about this whole team. Whatever I have going on, it’s on me to figure out and I think I’ve done a good job of that."
As much as the status of Toronto’s backup goalie might seem secondary to another highly anticipated Leafs-Bruins series, history tells us that’s not the case. It took just 72 minutes of play – less than four periods – for former Leafs backup Curtis McElhinney to see action against Boston last spring.
Consider this: Of the last 13 teams to lift the Stanley Cup, just three have done so while riding one goaltender all playoffs.
The only predictable thing about the post-season is how unpredictable it is. The difference between winning and losing in Round 1 may well come down to an Auston Matthews vs. Patrice Bergeron matchup, or how big of an impact John Tavares and Mitch Marner can make, or how quickly Jake Gardiner can get back up to speed and strengthen the Leafs blue line, or any of the other storylines we’ve been hashing over these last few days.
But it might also involve the guy sitting at the end of the bench wearing a ballcap if Andersen has to leave a game for even a couple minutes. Remember when Roberto Luongo had to bail on the Vancouver Canucks during overtime of an elimination game because of an urgent bathroom break?
"Hockey’s a strange sport," Hutchinson observed this week. "Things happen fast."
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That’s why every detail is so magnified once you get into a best-of-seven, especially when you factor in how often a series is won in the margins.
Boston has no questions or doubts about its backup situation. Should Tuukka Rask falter, coach Bruce Cassidy can turn to Jaroslav Halak – he of the sparkling .922 save percentage across 40 appearances this season, and a veteran of 30 Stanley Cup playoff games.
By comparison, the Leafs have more questions than answers behind Andersen.
They certainly don’t have a whole lot of confidence in Sparks right now – not after seeing him post an .895 save percentage in 11 appearances since Dec. 29, including two late losses against the 31st-place Ottawa Senators where he struggled badly.
Sparks has spoken openly about how challenging he’s found his first full season in the NHL – particularly when it came to the long gap between starts as a backup and the heightened level of scrutiny on his performance.
"Well you don’t do this in the AHL," he said to a large scrum of TV cameras and reporters. "So that’s one component. It’s better players, it’s a tougher schedule. There’s a lot going on. So, that’s it."
At age 29, Hutchinson is a little older and has more games under his belt at this level. But he’s never stopped a puck in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Plus the Leafs weren’t even sure whether he’d be able to catch a flight in time to join them for Game 1 at TD Garden.
"That’s a good question," said Babcock. "Obviously being there for the birth of your child and supporting your wife is more important than hockey, so he needs to look after the family part first. We know he’s got people coming in to support and help out, but that’s more important right now.
"He’ll be available as soon as he can be."
