Kristen Campbell is Toronto's starter. Beyond her however, it's a question mark. Even in her, one of the least experience pro goalies in a PWHL starting role, Toronto could have crease worries.
Last season, it was Ilya Samsonov, Matt Murray, and Joseph Woll. Before that it was James Reimer and Jonathan Bernier. If we travel into the past it was Jean-Sébastien Giguère and Jonas Gustavsson. Wait, or was it James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson? It was also Jack Campbell and Frederik Andersen and Petr Mrazek. Not since the days of Felix Potvin, Ed Belfour, and Curtis Joseph have Leafs fans rested on a starter, and even then, there were times the annual Toronto goaltending controversy swirled. In fact the most recent period of stability in a Toronto crease was certainly not in a men's hockey net. It existed the last three seasons as Elaine Chuli was the undenied starter for the PHF's Toronto Six, leading them to an Isobel Cup championship last season.
Chuli however, is gone; drafted by PWHL Montreal. As is the PHF.
And with life being breathed into the new PWHL, now North America's only professional women's hockey option, life is also being breathed into a new version of a goaltending controversy in Toronto.
In free agency, PWHL Toronto chose not to sign a netminder. Three other franchises secured goalies in Ann-Renee Desbiens (Montreal), Aerin Frankel (Boston), and Emerance Maschmeyer (Ottawa). When the draft came, Minnesota jumped out first to select Nicole Hensley. Then came Toronto with Kristen Campbell and New York with Corinne Schroeder.
As the draft progressed, others came off the board - Emma Soderberg (Boston), Abbey Levy (New York), Elaine Chuli (Montreal), Sandra Abstreiter (Ottawa), Amanda Leveille (Minnesota).
Following the draft, word started emerging of the top remaining goaltenders; Noora Raty who would not receive an invite, feeling her departure from the PWHPA board cost her a position in the league, and Maddie Rooney, destined for Minnesota. Some younger stars also claimed camp invites in Cami Kronish and Blanka Skodova.
Toronto will bring a trio of veteran goalies to camp to compete for a spot behind Campbell in Erica Howe, Carly Jackson, and Amanda Mäkelä. All three are excellent goalies, but none provide the stability the rest of the league will have...at least on paper.
In the women's hockey ecosystem, goaltending depth is cavernous. Because of the size of the pool, many goaltenders don't get a chance to shine as starters, and instead see limited starts and limited development opportunities for years on end. In Toronto, it would be naive to put the expectation from Gina Kingsbury and Troy Ryan that one of these individuals will emerge out of mind.
What's more likely, is that Toronto is anticipating Kristen Campbell can and will play 20 or more games this season, while other teams may structure more of a balanced system between their netminders.
It's not all or nothing on Campbell, but an injury to Campbell, who herself is one of the least proven netminders at the professional level in the PWHL, would be catastrophic.
Howe or Jackson could step in and play solid minutes, but neither would provide the game stealing potential other teams have on a nightly basis.
And should Campbell struggle, as she did at times in Canada's Fall selection camp, the issue could be magnified.
When this season ends, Kingsbury could aggressively target the longterm counterpart to Campbell, whether that's NCAA standout Gwyneth Philips, Czech superstar Klara Peslarova, or perhaps, using the connections of hockey operations hire Tuula Puputti, we could see Finnish netminder Sanni Ahola join Toronto after she finishes her NCAA career.
Either way, the net will be under a microscope in Toronto when the PWHL season begins, much as it has been in the NHL for decades.