This year, the Maple Leafs training camp roster is about as straight forward as it has ever been. Obviously, the under contract players are there. The players on AHL contracts with the Marlies are there as well. There’s a handful of the Leafs North American-based prospects, too. The only two free agents are Owen Conrad who turned some heads during the prospect camp and Ken Appleby, a veteran goaltender. While Conrad is a name to keep on your radar as an overaged draft pick or free agent signing in the future for the Leafs, the role Appleby will play is far more significant in the short term.

Appleby is a long-term AHL veteran goaltender who has had a couple of cups of coffee in the NHL. He’s not really pushing for an NHL contract and at best will get some consideration for the third string AHL role if the Leafs aren’t comfortable with Slava Peksa’s ability to move up from the ECHL at times this year. Appleby’s background hasn’t been as a heavy workload guy in the AHL either and he’s spent a fair bit of time bouncing around the ECHL.

So why does Appleby being in Leafs camp matter?

Both Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll don’t have the best durability track records, and even if they did the Maple Leafs wouldn’t want to overexert them in practice.

At the same time, the Maple Leafs offensive players need the opportunity to get in work against a goaltender that is being asked to try hard in training camp and presumably the Leafs will find a way to reward the veteran for that effort, potentially with an AHL contract.

The NFL gets it right with the quarterbacks in the preseason and outside a handful of snaps, they don’t want to risk injuries at their most important position in games that don’t matter. The NHL season is a lot longer with a lot more games, and there is a greater risk of throwing a goaltender in completely cold, but at the same time the Leafs don’t need split six games of work between their top four goaltenders. Having Peksa and Appleby to take on the majority of the work in the preseason makes sense as well and while the Leafs will need to dress one of their NHL goaltenders in each preseason game to meet the NHL’s veteran criteria, having goaltenders they can lean on for the majority of the work makes sense.

While Matt Murray wasn’t particularly memorable in his stint as a Leaf/Marlie, he did provide the Leafs with two games of relief last season and played in 21 games for the Marlies, doing very well in those outings. Appleby isn’t Murray. He’s not going to get time with the Leafs but he gave the Charlotte Checkers 24 games of .910 save percentage hockey. With the Leafs likely needing to rely on Dennis Hildeby at points as the third string goaltender and potentially wanting to take a look at Artur Akhtyamov as well, and factoring in that injuries can and will happen at the AHL level as well, adding an additional netminder so it isn’t pure chaos after Peksa gets called up is likely a good thing. And that Appleby can be trusted at the AHL and ECHL levels helps keep the Marlies and Cyclones competitive and potentially allowing them to play further into the spring as well.

By no means should anyone expect Appleby to come in and challenge for any role of significance in the Leafs goaltending depth chart, Appleby looks like an important camp invite and potentially a solution for the Maple Leafs at the bottom of their goaltending depth chart.