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The Toronto Maple Leafs are looking toward the future of their goalie position. They might also be setting up a trade.
On Sunday, they signed goalie of the future Artur Akhtyamov to a new contract. It could spell the end in Toronto for one of Joseph Woll or Anthony Stolarz.
The deal was reported by The Athletic's Chris Johnston:
"Artur Akhtyamov has signed a three-year extension with the #leafs carrying a $900,000 AAV. The goalie gets a two-way contract for next season, before it converts to a one-way deal for 2027-28 and 2028-29."
That works out to $2.7 million in total value across the three years.
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Akhtyamov is a lefty-catching goalie from Russia who is 24 years old.
He measures at 6-foot-2.
Akhtyamov played in the KHL in 2023-24 for the Kazan Ak-Bars and had a 92.1 save percentage and 2.51 goals against average.
He came to the AHL for the 2024-25 season to join the Toronto Marlies. In 26 games, he had a 90.1 save percentage and 2.81 goals against average.
This season back with the Marlies, Akhtyamov has played 32 games with a 90.4 save percentage and a 2.86 goals against average.
Akhtyamov has also played in one NHL game, for just 11 minutes. He made five saves without allowing a goal in that emergency stint for the Maple Leafs earlier this season.
Nothing is a given here. He's not a sure thing, and young goalies rarely are.
But having a cheaper netminder to at least start to develop toward moving one of the other guys out of town could be a path the Leafs decide to take. This contract is the first potential step toward that.
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