The cap-tied Toronto Maple Leafs will be counting on an amateur try-out as a backup goaltender for a second straight game, and maybe more.
Nick Chenard put pen to paper on an amateur try-out contract for their road game against the Florida Panthers. The former Owen Sound Attack netminder signed his ATO a little under 48 hours after University of Toronto keeper Jett Alexander sat on the Leafs bench, ultimately playing 1:10 in Toronto’s 7-1 rout of the Montreal Canadiens.
The Leafs front office was told by the NHL that the team wasn’t in an emergency situation because they had cap space and could have called up Joseph Woll from the Toronto Marlies as an injury-replacement for Matt Murray. Instead, the Leafs used that cap space to sign top prospect Matthew Knies to an entry-level contract on Sunday.
“I think they said we have a choice: ‘We could have the emergency goalie or we could sign Matthew Knies,’ and they were signing Matthew Knies,” said Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Tim and Friends. “And I don’t believe this would have been an issue if Murray and (Calle) Jarnkrok hadn’t gotten hurt and weren’t eligible for going on LTIR.”
Murray remains out with a head injury and did not travel with the team for their last road trip of the season. The Leafs currently have Ilya Samsonov and Chenard for back-to-back games against the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.
It remains unclear whether Samsonov will start on consecutive nights as the Leafs prepare for their first-round playoff clash with the Bolts or if Chenard will have his chance to shine.
“I would say tomorrow, if that was going to happen, I would say it would happen against the Lightning,” Freidman said about a possible Chenard start.
Chenard, 21, played for the Attack in the OHL this season, posting a 14-16-3 record with a 3.96 goals-against average and a .873 save percentage.
He played one game in the 2023 OHL playoffs. Coming on in relief at the start of the second period, Chenard allowed three goals from 25 shots as the Attack lost 5-0 to the London Knights. The Knights won the series in four games.