The Maple Leafs may be hunting a true number one goalie, with names like Connor Hellebuyck floated, at least if you read the tea leaves the way Chris McCluskey does.
McCluskey was refreshingly upfront. "I'm not an insider. This is not a leak or a rumour. I just read the tea leaves," he wrote.
His belief is the headline. He thinks Toronto is actively pursuing a significant upgrade in goal, a bona fide number one.
So treat this as an educated guess, not a report. McCluskey said as much himself, and that distinction matters.
But the logic holds up. Toronto's crease has been a question mark, and a 28th-place team reshaping its roster upgrading in net makes plenty of sense.
McCluskey's hunch is reasonable, even if it isn't reporting.
-
The dream targets are elite, and very hard to get
The names that fit the bill are the elite tier. Sergei Bobrovsky in Florida, the league's third-highest-paid goalie at $10 million, and Hellebuyck in Winnipeg at $8.5 million. Both are genuine number ones.
Here's the catch, and it's a big one. These are franchise cornerstones, not players who shake loose easily.
Bobrovsky is a Florida pillar and a veteran, and the Panthers aren't casually moving the goalie who has carried them. His price and age are real factors.
Hellebuyck is Winnipeg's franchise netminder. An older report floated possible discontent, but prying him loose would be an enormous ask, the kind that rarely happens.
That's the reality of chasing a true number one. Landing one through a trade is brutally hard, because the team on the other end almost never wants to sell.
Here's my read: the need is real, and McCluskey's tea-leaf read is reasonable. But wanting a number one and landing one are miles apart.
The elite names floated are dreams, not plausible gets. A more realistic, mid-tier upgrade is far likelier than a Bobrovsky or a Hellebuyck walking into Toronto.
So take the tea leaves for what they are, a logical hunch rather than news. If the Leafs do chase a number one, the path is steep and the big names are long shots.
Whether John Chayka can actually deliver a goalie of that caliber is the real question. Believing they want one is easy. Getting one is the hard part.
Can the Leafs realistically land a bona fide No. 1 goalie?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Non-hockey-related news surrounding Elias Pettersson leaves his future uncertain
