The Toronto Maple Leafs are adding another goaltender to their training camp.
The club announced on Tuesday that have signed goaltender John Gilles to a professional tryout.
The American goaltender did not play hockey in 2023-24. He spent most of the 2022-23 season in the American Hockey League but did make three appearances in the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets where he posted a 1-0-0 record with an .864 save percentage.
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The 30-year-old goaltender was a promising goaltending prospect. He attended Providence University from 2012-2015 and backstopped the men’s hockey to a national title in 2015. He won the Most Outstanding Player award of the 2015 Frozen Four and was named to the All-Hockey East First Team and the Hockey East All-Rookie Team.
Gilles was selected by the Calgary Flames in the 3rd round (75th overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He played in just 12 games with the Flames, mostly spending his tenure in the organization with the club’s farm team at the time, the Stockton Heat.
The player has struggled to find his footing at the professional level. It didn’t help that he had to take some time away from the game early in his professional career to deal with a nagging hip issue.
The Maple Leafs have plenty of goaltenders with Joseph Woll, Anothny Stolarz, Matt Murray, Dennis Hildeby, Artur Akhtyamov and Slava Peksa all in the fold.
In 35 NHL games with the Flames, St. Louis Blues, New Jersey Devils and Blue Jackets, Gilles is 8-16-3 record with an .891 save percentage.
At 6-foot-6, Gilles has a large frame which allows him to cover a lot of the net. His size, combined with good positional play can make it difficult for shooters to beat him on clean shots. However, lateral movements and rebound control have been areas where he’s worked to improve. That’s often a challenge for goaltenders that are bigger than 6-foot-5.
The Leafs are set to open training camp on Wednesday with medicals before hitting the ice for their first practice sessions on Thursday.
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