The Toronto Maple Leafs are going through goaltenders like hotcakes, and with the lower-body injury to Joseph Woll against the Carolina Hurricanes, the netminding burden has been passed to rookie Dennis Hildeby for the foreseeable future.

Dennis 'The Beast' Hildeby has been in the Maple Leafs organization since 2023. Following hip surgery, the 6-foot-7 goalie was excellent for the SHL's Farjestad toward the end of the 2021-22 season. That convinced the Leafs to select him as a 20-year-old in the fourth round of the 2022 draft.

After splitting time with Matt Tomkins the following season, Hildeby headed to North America at the end of the 2022-23 SHL season and played briefly in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies.  

Since then, the 24-year-old has played two full seasons in the American League. Between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 campaigns, Hildeby has featured in 71 games and registered a 2.48 goals-against average, a .911 save percentage, and a 37-20-11 record. In addition, he received AHL All-Star recognition and made his NHL debut last season.

However, despite a successful apprenticeship, an excellent performance at training camp, and the Leafs locking him up on a three-year contract extension in September, GM Brad Treliving and head coach Craig Berube chose not to rely on Hildeby to back up Anthony Stolarz at the beginning of the season with Joseph Woll away from the club on a personal leave of absence. 

Treliving instead claimed Cayden Primeau off waivers and sent the Swede down to the Marlies. Berube used Stolarz in 13 of the first 17 games of the season, using Primeau only in the second game of back-to-back situations.

As a result,  the veteran was sidelined with an injury in mid-November, and only after Primeau had been reclaimed by Carolina was Hildeby recalled.  

Woll returned to the Leafs in late October and was going through an AHL conditioning stint when Stolarz was injured on Nov. 11.

Hildeby was good in his second start of the season, a 33-save performance in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings. But after just two starts in the minors, Woll returned to the Leafs' lineup on Nov. 15 and made eight starts in the last nine games.

With the Toronto struggling to climb out of the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, Berube once again leaned heavily on a goalie with a history of injury instead of lightening his load by playing his backup more often.

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This tactic once again came back to bite Toronto on Thursday, as Woll left the game after two periods with a lower-body injury. Hildeby was excellent in his first win of the season against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 29 and made all nine stops in relief of Woll in the third period against the Hurricanes on Thursday.  

“I really liked the way (Dennis) came in and handled it,” Berube told reporters. “He has done a great job for us, I talked about back in camp, thought he had a real good camp, came in prepared, and the preparation showed tonight. It’s not easy to come in that situation. I love when he’s ripping those pucks around the wall. He battled in net and made some good saves in the third period.”

Woll was placed on injured reserve on Saturday, and Berube indicated that he hopes that he will be out for a week. However, with Stolarz still not skating more than three weeks after he suffered his upper-body injury, untested rookie Artur Akhtyamov will be serving as Hildeby's backup.

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Also, the addition of another goalie via trade or waiver claim seems unlikely, meaning Hildeby now has to carry the weight of the Leafs' starting duties and perhaps the fate of their season on his big shoulders.

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