Infamous Toronto Maple Leafs goalie benched by his European team
Over the more than century-long history of the Toronto Maple Leafs, 107 goaltenders have suited up for the franchise in a regular season game.
There have been greats like Turk Broda and Johnny Bower, Hall of Famers making a pit stop in Toronto like Ed Belfour and Jacques Plante, andĀ cult heroes like Curtis Joseph, who captured the hearts and minds of the fanbase.
And then there’s a whole lot of other guys. While fans would love it if everyone who stepped into the crease were a star, that hasn’t always been the case.
Enter Michael Hutchinson, who ranks 56th on the Leafs’ all-time games played list for goalies, playing 30 career times for the franchise from 2018-19 through 2021-22.
He had two different stints with the team, playing one single game in Colorado after the Leafs traded him away before returning to Toronto in the fall of 2020.
Though he was a highly touted prospect when he started his career in Winnipeg, things never quite worked out as planned for him as an NHL starter.
He started 25 games or more just twice in his NHL career and put up a .902 career save percentage while putting up a .898 in Toronto. Notably, he is also the only Leafs goalie since Jean-Sebastian Aubin to catch right-handed, and just one of 12 in franchise history to do so. (Only five current goalies catch right-handed, as per Hockey Reference.)
And to say he was inconsistent would be an understatement: in his four years in Toronto, his save percentages came in at .914, .886, .919, and .857.
Suiting up for six teams over the course of his NHL career, Hutchinson last played last season in the Detroit Red Wings system, playing just one NHL game in 2023-24 while playing 32 for the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.
Now 35, many journeymen in his position might opt to retire if they don’t see much of a pathway back to consistent NHL playing time. But Hutchinson opted to take his talents overseas, signing with SaiPa in the top Finnish league this year.
It’s safe to say things haven’t been rosy in his first year overseas.
Hutchinson’s save percentage is .886, with a 7-9-6 record and a 3.02 goals-against average in his 24 games this season. Given that his teammates in Kari Piiroinen and Oskari Salminen have put up a .902 and .908 save percentage, respectively, in their appearances with the team, it’s hard to argue that his defence has been failing in front of him.
With SaiPa winning their first two rounds of the playoffs, Hutchinson has yet to get into any postseason action. Despite Hutchinson playing more games than either of his counterparts in the regular season, Piiroinen has started all nine games for the team in the playoffs.
While we commend Hutchinson for prolonging his career in a new league, we’ll be curious to see where he ends up after this season, given how things have gone in his first year in Finland.