Maple Leafs Get Major Boost From New Playoff Rule
The Maple Leafs faced a serious goaltending crisis at the end of the regular season, even being forced to dress university/junior players as the team's backup.
After Matt Murray went down with an injury, Toronto signed top prospect and NCAA standout Matthew Knies, instead of calling up a third goalie. Along with the club's cap restraints, it made any roster changes for GM Kyle Dubas extremely challenging.
New Rule Saves the Leafs
Fortunately, Sportsnet's Luke Fox shared that a new rule adopted by the NHL has saved the Maple Leafs another potential headache. As per Fox:
''Sheldon Keefe says Matt Murray is «progressing well» and has been skating for a week now (but not every day). Erik Kallgren is the third goalie for now.''
''Keefe says a rule change allows teams to carry a pro goalie as an EBUG in playoffs.''
''Keefe says a rule change allows teams to carry a pro goalie as an EBUG in playoffs.''
Although there's no max on cap space and call-ups during the postseason, this revised rule allows teams to include a third goaltender from the organization to their playoff roster as an Emergency Backup Goalie (EBUG), rather than the traditional random one we usually see.
This change enabled Toronto to bring up Erik Kallgren from their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, without incurring any penalties.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 18 | 123 ANSWERS Maple Leafs Get Major Boost From New Playoff Rule Should NHL teams have access to 3 goalie all the time? | ||
| Yes. No more EBUG | 74 | 60.2 % |
| No way | 49 | 39.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
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