2017-18 Leafs Season in Review: Frederik Andersen

Frederik Andersen is a tough goalie to evaluate. He is notoriously inconsistent and is being asked to play too many minutes, but has stretches of otherworldly performances. One such stretch even earning him second star of the month honours for the month of November. While he’s locked in to be “The Guy” in Toronto for three more years, minimizing the effect of his slumps will go a long way to solidifying himself as an elite starter in this league.

66GP, .918SV%, .924EvSV%

For the second year in a row FredEx stumbled out of the gate, posting an .896SV% in October. The difference this season was that he was able to maintain an elite level for longer before eventually coming crashing down to Earth in March where he put up an .884SV%. Those two horrendous months cost him his shot at Vezina consideration as he had a .929SV% the rest of the way.

Everyone’s favourite redheaded Dane was 3rd in TOI which, as I mentioned earlier, is probably too much given his ability. That’s not necessarily his fault as much as it is Babcock’s though, and Andersen was almost entirely up to the task before he seemed to run out of steam down the stretch. His playoff performance lost him a few grade levels though, as four incredible months in a row don’t seem to mean a whole lot when you put up an .896SV% in the postseason.

There were a lot of good moments for Fred, as there tends to be for any solid goaltender over the course of a season.

But the one we’ll likely remember most came in a Game 3 victory over the Bruins, stopping a red-hot David Pastrnak to help preserve the win.

Maybe Dubas will be able to talk some sense into Babcock and limit starts which would allow for the Leafs to showcase one of their 3 NHL capable backups. Regardless, we’re going to see Freddy shoulder the load next year, with his starts climbing into the 60+ range again. He’s proven himself capable, maybe this is the year he holds it together from October into the playoffs.