Hutchinson has 'hectic' day as emergency goalie for Maple Leafs

TORONTO -- Michael Hutchinson was in awe as he walked into the Toronto Maple Leafs dressing room on Thursday.

Growing up in Barrie, Ontario, about 50 miles north of Scotiabank Arena, he'd fantasized about one day being in this hallowed place, wearing this coveted blue-and-white jersey.
For the veteran goalie, his presence here was a dream come true.
For the goalie-thin Maple Leafs, it was a necessity.
RELATED: [Wild-Maple Leafs game recap | Andersen placed on injured reserve]
With Frederik Andersen and Garret Sparks unavailable for the afternoon game against the Minnesota Wild, Toronto turned to Hutchinson, who had been in the organization for five days. Hutchinson, 28, was traded from the Florida Panthers on Saturday for a fifth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft and reported to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.
Andersen was placed on injured reserve Thursday with a groin injury retroactive to Dec. 23. Sparks is being withheld from competition for precautionary reasons and is being evaluated under the concussion protocol.
With Marlies prospect Kasimir Kaskisuo the only other option -- he and Hutchinson were called up Thursday -- Hutchinson started and made 30 saves in Toronto's 4-3 loss to Minnesota.
"He gave us a chance," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "That's all you can ask of a guy."

Babcock didn't know much about his impromptu starting goalie. Such is the lack of depth at the position for the Maple Leafs these days.
"They called me and told me [Sparks] couldn't go and so we knew [Hutchinson] was going to play," Babcock said.
When Babcock first touched base with Hutchison, there were a few basic questions to go over.
"What's your first name?" Babcock asked.
"Michael," Hutchinson replied.
"What do you like to be called?" Babcock said.
"Hutch."
That info having been passed on, Babcock gave his new goalie one important piece of advice.
"Have fun," the coach said.
Heeding those words might be difficult for Babcock if Andersen is out for long. He is the player Toronto can least afford to be without.
Andersen is 20-9-1 with a 2.50 goals-against average. Sparks is 6-2-1, but his 3.01 GAA symbolizes his inconsistency. He was booed by the home fans for allowing a couple of questionable goals in a 4-0 loss against the New York Islanders on Saturday.
Toronto started the season with Sparks as the backup instead of Curtis McElhinney, 35, who was waived Oct. 1 and is with the Carolina Hurricanes. The decision was based on the desire to see what Sparks, 25, could do at the NHL level.

Three months later, injuries to Andersen and Sparks forced the Maple Leafs to call up two goalies on an emergency basis. The muddled situation might not be resolved by their next game, at home against Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, SNO, SNW, SNP, NHL.TV).
Babcock said Andersen is progressing but would not offer a timetable. As for Sparks, he said, "I don't know what's going on. We were just talking about maybe finding another goalie. We'd like [Kaskisuo] to get playing (with the Marlies), we don't want him to be sitting around, so maybe we've got to find another goalie and go from there."
Hutchinson kept the Maple Leafs in the game in the first period, making 18 saves to help Toronto take a 2-1 lead into intermission. But the Wild kept plugging away and eventually broke a 3-3 tie when Zach Parise scored the game-winner at 4:21 of the third.
"When I got traded here, you kind of hope that you get a chance to play for the Leafs," Hutchinson said. "It was really exciting to get my first game under [my belt], but it also makes you hungry to get more. And to get the first win and go from there.
"It's been hectic."
At least there was a familiar face in the dressing room. He and Maple Leafs center John Tavares were teammates on the Toronto Blues summer league team when they were 11.
"It's great to be teammates again with him," said Hutchinson, 28. "We went something like 49-0-1. We were stacked with guys like Alex Pietrangelo, Steven Stamkos, Michael Del Zotto and Cody Hodgson but Johnny always stood out."
Tavares was complimentary of Hutchinson's first game with the Maple Leafs.
"Full credit to him," Tavares said. "The way he came in and met pretty much everyone for the first time, probably [with] no idea about our system and kind of the things we're trying to accomplish that can be predictable for the goaltender. Under the set of circumstances, it's not an easy position."
Hutchinson came in with a record of 44-40-13, a 2.70 GAA and .907 save percentage in 106 NHL games with the Winnipeg Jets and Panthers. He showed Thursday that he can be a stopgap for Toronto.
But the Maple Leafs need more than that if they want to be successful in the long run. They need a healthy Andersen, not to mention more goalie depth in their system.