Sheldon Keefe does not want rust to be a risk while carrying three goaltenders on the Maple Leafs’ main roster.
While it was expected he would have Jack Campbell start the club’s third game in four nights on Saturday in Ottawa, after Frederik Andersen looked shaky at times, No. 3 Aaron Dell was the backup. It’s a plan head coach Sheldon Keefe says he’ll deploy often as long as it’s three’s company in the crease and the NHL schedule jams up.
“Part of our reason is with the day off (Sunday) it allowed (Andersen) to get a full day of hard work without the sense he might have to go in,” Keefe said. “You’ll see that pattern remain as long as we have three goalies.”
But keeping that many means one less change Keefe can make on forward or defence. On Saturday, he made only one move, sending fourth-line winger Alexander Barabanov to the taxi squad and bringing in Nick Robertson.
“You get the extra goalie insurance,” Keefe reasoned. “You get the depth there that we value (after hard lessons the past couple of years). When you look at our situation with a 21-man roster and one is a goalie, it limits our ability to make changes. But a lot can happen in a season, things can change quickly. We’ll see how that goes.”
Andersen also gets a second day off to rest for a projected start against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday at Scotiabank Arena.
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