Leafs reportedly sign goaltender to multi-year deal
On Monday, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman had likened Brad Treliving's situation in Toronto to trying to drink from a fire hose. There's no question that the Leafs have a TON of work to do this summer and that this week is going to be a very busy one for the team's new GM.
For all of the names in Toronto in need of new deals, one would have figured that some of the first contracts announced would have been Luke Schenn, Noel Acciari and/or Ryan O'Reilly. However, it appears as though Treliving is actually nearing a deal with goaltender Artur Akhtyamov.
Per Hockey News Hub on Twitter, sources are stating that Akhtyamov has indeed signed an entry-level contract with the Leafs and has been loaned back to Neftyanik Almetievsk in th VHL. HNH did caution, though, that the contract has not been officially confirmed yet, so we can expect that announcement to come out of Toronto shortly.
Akhtyamov put together a really strong season with Neftyanik Almetievsk in 2022-23, racking up a 20-12-6 record, with a 1.74 GAA and a .943 SV%. The probable idea here would be to keep the 21-year-old's workload high and perhaps make the jump to the KHL at some point this season.
At this point, bringing Akhtyamov over to North America would not provide him with the best opportunity to succeed, since he'd be playing behind the likes of Vyacheslav Peksa and Dennis Hildeby, among others. Keeping Akhtyamov busy overseas and allowing him to continue to focus on his development over there is certainly for the best at this point in time, as there are limited spots and a lot of competition in Toronto (AHL) and Newfoundland (ECHL).
Akhtyamov was selected by the Leafs with the 106th overall pick (4th round) in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.
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