Leafs Sign Goalie Prospect

 

Monday, I planned on writing an article about what went down at the Leafs season-ending media conferences but nothing noteworthy was said. Here are some bullet points. Auston Matthews is eligible for a contract extension on July 1^st when Free Agency opens and when asked he said he intends to stay here and would like to get the deal signed right away. Mitch Marner stated that with all the uncertainty surrounding the core players he wants to stay here in Toronto because he believes they can and will win. Steve Simmons asked John Tavares if he would be willing to waive his no-move clause for a trade. First off, I didn’t know a Toronto Sun reporter can negotiate trades for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but Tavares said he loves playing here and being the captain of the Maple Leafs, so I think it’s safe to say he doesn’t intend to leave Toronto anytime soon. Ilya Samsonov who is a Restricted Free Agent this summer when asked said he would like to remain with the Leafs organization, and I think there’s a strong possibility that he remains with the blue and white as Toronto’s starter. Next was Sheldon Keefe and he said he feels although the season ended in a disappointing series loss to Florida, he felt the team showed some progress. The last to speak Monday afternoon was Kyle Dubas when asked if he would consider breaking up the core to try and make the team better next season and Kyle’s answer was that nothing is off the table. He also shot down the rumours of him leaving and joining the Penguins front office. Kyle said it’s Toronto or nothing. What came as somewhat of a surprise is that team president Brendan Shanahan didn’t address the media on Monday. He will address the media within the next few days according to the team. As Leafs Media Day wrapped up speculation ran wild as to why Shanahan is speaking on a different day and at the time of my writing this there are rumours that Brendan could be stepping down as team president, of course as we all know we need to take rumours with a grain of salt but it’s still fun to speculate.

Now, for the main purpose of this midnight write-up. Monday night the Leafs announced that they had signed their 6th-round selection from the 2021 Draft, Goalie Vyacheslav Peksa. Peksa who is a native of Magnitogorsk Russia appeared in 40 games for Bars Kazan of the VHL (Farm league for the KHL). The 20-year-old netminder posted a record of 13-19-6 with a 2.34 GAA and a .921 save percentage. He would follow that up with two playoff appearances for Irbis Kazan of the MHL a Russian Junior League. In the two playoff games, he would have a 2.21 GAA and a .917 save percentage.

With Toronto making this signing I think the plan is to bring Peksa to training camp in the fall and give him an opportunity on the Toronto Marlies because I think it’s a guarantee that Joseph Woll will be backing up for the Toronto Maple Leafs when October comes around. Also, Woll was sent back down to the Marlies for their next playoff game against the Rochester Americans, and hopefully, Woll can help the Marlies climb back into their second-round series. Also, one question Monday night’s signing raises is, this deal was done by Kyle Dubas who needs a new contract could this be a sign that Kyle is in fact returning to Toronto? Hopefully, our questions will have answers after Shanahan speaks to the media.

 

Thanks for checking out my quick late-night read.