Well we can pretty much confirm John Chayka's biggest mistake so far as GM and it all points to one move that has yet to truly pay off for the Maple Leafs.
John Chayka came into the Maple Leafs front office this summer with a game plan in mind. He wanted to add some more defensive help to the bottom-six, he wanted a star offensive player on the blue line, and wanted to bring back the feeling of the old days - hence Mats Sundin coming in as well.
But he's also made some pretty bad decisions in hindsight, and the biggest that fans would point to would be Jim Hiller, especially for his inability to manage Gavin McKenna and the growing concern that he's essentially Craig Berube just with a new coat of paint.
Bobrovsky is the absolute worst decision Chayka made this summer
But we can say without a doubt that Chayka's worst decision this year was his biggest gamble, and it's time to come to the realization that Sergei Bobrovsky was a bad idea:
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Over the last nine games, Bobrovsky is second-last in the league for qualoified goalies with a -7.4 GSAx (Goals Saved Above Expected).
That means that Bobrovsky is letting in nearly 7.5 more goals than he is expected to, and he's been worse than goalies for teams like Vancouver and Pittsburgh.
This year, Bobrovsky has a 3-8-2 record with a 3.47 GAA and .881 SV% - his worst numbers of his career thus far. He's looked incapable of making generic, pedestrian saves and while he's had glimpses of the old 'Bob,' it's nowhere near what Toronto expected.
Buckle up fans, this could get ugly
There's also two more seasons of this as Bobrovsky is signed for $7M per year until 2029 when he'll be 40 years old. If this is what we can expect going forward then it's going to be a tough stretch for the Maple Leafs and their fans.
Thank goodness Anthony Stolarz has been pretty solid despite a couple of rough games, but at this point it's the Maple Leafs' horrificly porous defense costing them, not their backup.
It might be time to give him the reins while there's a little left to salvage for this season because right now, Bobrovsky's not it.
He has the resume that made him so enticing and perhaps that is enough to carry him a little bit longer. But without results, the Maple Leafs are going to suffer even more and John Chayka has to accept the fact that he went all-in and busted on Bobrovsky.
Do you think John Chayka's biggest mistake as Leafs GM was signing Sergei Bobrovsky?
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