Injuries And EBUGs

NHL teams like to have players in the minor leagues for a number of reasons - injuries, illness, trades, and host of potential other reasons. The Toronto Maple Leafs usually have no issue finding a player in their system to lend a hand when something causes a player to miss a game, but it would appear that they're running a little thin on goaltenders as of late with the likes of NHL goaltending duo Jack Campbell and Petr Mrazek both out with injuries. The man above is Michael Hutchinson, and he was already unavailable for the AHL Marlies while Erik Källgren is already playing with the Leafs due to Campbell's injury. You can seem the calamity forming as the number of goaltenders available don't pan out in the Leafs' case.

Before we go any further because there's a great Canada West tie-in on this story, I need to point out the insanity of the goaltending situation in and around Toronto. Here's the hospital wing of Leafs goaltending presently:

• Jack Campbell: on the IR, but "day-to-day" currently.
• Petr Mrazek: injured in the first period last night against Boston.
• Erik Källgren: stopping pucks for the Leafs.
• Michael Hutchinson: held out of the game, but possibly en route the Leafs?
• Joseph Woll: apparent shoulder injury, and currently out.
• Keith Petruzzelli: reportedly ill before last night's game.
• Ian Scott: played just 1 ECHL game this year; whereabouts unknown.
• Carter Hutton: assigned to AHL Tucson in the Nick Ritchie salary dump trade; injured.

With just two netminders - Källgren and Hutchinson - in any sort of game-ready status, the Leafs were struggling to fill the nets in both the NHL and AHL. Newfoundland may also be needing a netminder this week if Petruzzelli remains with the Marlies, so there are goaltending holes all over the Maple Leafs' deapth chart right now.

With the Leafs using Erik Källgren to help them to a 6-4 win last night following Mrazek's early injury while Jason San Antonio sat on the stool and opened the Leafs' gate as the EBUG, the Marlies also needed some help with both Michael Hutchinson, held out of the late AHL game so he could join the Leafs, and Keith Petruzzelli unavailable for their game against the Abbotsford Canucks in Abbotsford, BC. The Leafs went hunting for goalies in Abbotsford on very short notice!

They would accomplish their goal by signing two netminders to amateur tryout contracts (ATOs) as they inked former Prince George Cougars netminder Tavin Grant to a deal and added former TWU Spartans and Nipissing Lakers goaltender Talor Joseph to the roster! We already know that Joseph had been on the AHL radar thanks to a brief EBUG stint with Abbotsford before, but Tavin Grant was an unexpected name on the transaction wire.

We'll start with a quick background on Grant who wore #35 as the backup goalie last night. Grant played 37 games for the WHL's Prince George Cougars in 2017-18 where he posted a respectable 13-17-1 record with a 3.74 GAA, an .892 save percentage, and one shutout. The only problem was that the 20 year-old Grant had two younger goalies competing for time behind him in Taylor Gauthier and Isaiah DiLaura. With Prince George struggling to a 24-38-10 record that season and missing the playoffs, the Cougars decided to go with youth and released Grant to pursue other hockey opportunities. Despite digging through the interwebs, I couldn't find any further news on Grant's involvement in the game until today's developments, so the Burnaby, BC native might have been just close enough for the Marlies who needed a goaltender desperately.

The other goaltender signed by the Marlies, who Canada West fans know from seeing him in action, is Talor Joseph. The 27 year-old just finished up his fifth and final year of eligibility with the Trinity Western Spartans after spending the previous four with the OUA's Nipissing Lakers and spending a year in the ACAC with the MacEwan Griffins prior to that. In 12 games with the Spartans, he posted a 5.86 GAA and an .876 save percentage, but those numbers were entirelty deceiving in terms of how well he played against some rather tough opponents this year. His 2-9-0 record in those 12 games doesn't suggest he should be getting an AHL shot, but he stood tall against the likes of Alberta, UBC, and Saskatchewan all season long.

As we know, Joseph already had an AHL jersey with his name on the back thanks to his EBUG appearance for the Canucks earlier this season, and he'd add a Marlies jersey to his closet after tonight. With both Grant and Joseph signed, the Marlies were ready to go for their game against the Canucks last night. The only question left to ask was who was starting for the Marlies in the crease?

Wearing #60 for the Toronto Marlies, Talor Joseph was given the start by head coach Greg Moore, and, for the first time in his career, he was officially an AHL goaltender! Of course, there's still 60 minutes of action that Joseph would have to face from the Canucks, so let's take a peek at how the former Canada West netminder did in his debut!

Toronto jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period to give Joseph some breathing room in this game, but it seemed that Joseph was locked in based on how he was playing. Abbotsford outshot Toronto 13-6 in the opening frame, and Joseph stopped all of those chances to send the Marlies into the break with that three-goal lead. There were a couple of solid opportunties that the Canucks had on those 13 shots, and it seemed like Joseph ready to shock the world last night. As just 20 minutes had been played, no one was handing out Rookie of the Year awards or anything, but so far, so good, right? We'd move on to the second period!

Abbotsford kept coming in the second period, but Joseph looked at home in the Toronto crease. The Canucks would finally get to him at 15:43 of the second period when John Stevens' pass was deflected by Joseph, but it hit Carson Focht who had a man tied up in front of the net and landed behind Joseph to snap the shutout as Abbotsford made it 3-1! As shown below, it was just an unfortunate break.

Toronto would add a power-play goal shortly after Stevens' goal, and the Marlies went into the intermission up 4-1 with Talor Joseph having stopped 20 of 21 shots to that point!

Abbotsford came out in third period and pressed the Marlies for two more goals as they closed the gap to 4-3 in the game thanks to Sheldon Dries scoring a pair of power-play markers. However, Joseph would get one back against the Canucks when he assisted on Alex Steeves' empty-net goal at 18:50 to make it a 5-3 game and, more importantly, record his first AHL point in his career! Perhaps even more surprising, Joseph's assist on the goal was the first one recorded by a Marlies goalie all season! How cool is that?

You know what's even cooler? The picture to the left because that's Talor Joseph holding the game puck from his first-ever AHL win as the Marlies downed the Canucks by a 5-3 score! Joseph did allow three goals on the night, but he stopped 34 shots to pick up his first AHL win in his first official AHL start! There are a ton of moments in a player's career that he or she will remember, but getting a win as a professional hockey player will certainly stand out in one's memory. Talor Joseph now has that memory just one month removed from riding a bus in Canada West university hockey! There aren't many hockey stories that begin with "Do you remember that goaltender who played with the Trinity Western Spartans?" that end with "He won his first AHL start!", but Talor Joseph owns that story!

"There"s always nerves and butterflies, especially in a situation like this but you just really have got to stay in the moment and appreciate the opportunity," Joseph told reporters after the game. "This doesn't come around every day and it's really a blessing that it happened to me. I'm very fortunate. I'm thankful."

Of course, a first win also means hockey hugs for Talor!


It will be interesting to see what happens as the Marlies play this week. They play Abbotsford again tonight before flying into Winnipeg for a pair of games with the Manitoba Moose on Friday and Saturday. Assuming that his illness continues tonight, Petruzzelli could return for the trip to Winnipeg meaning that one of Grant or Joseph would be left behind in BC. I'm assuming that Joseph would be the goalie who would fly with the Marlies to Winnipeg, but we'll see what the Leafs do to address their goaltending as they move forward.

From the woes of having no goalies to finding one in BC who can win you games, it would almost be beneficial to keep Joseph around for the rest of the season for the Marlies. While he wouldn't be eligible to play in the Calder Cup Playoffs unless it's in an emergency situation, he might be the stop-gap to allow a few of Toronto's netminders to get healthy and get ready for a run in the playoffs. As shown, he's good enough to win games in the AHL, and that's the only thing that should matter.

Congratulations to Talor Joseph on his first AHL win!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!