Dennis Hildeby just made the Toronto Maple Leafs' offseason goaltending gamble look a little riskier this week.
The Maple Leafs shipped him to Tampa Bay this summer, betting the future on a Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz tandem instead.
Bobrovsky is 37 now, carrying a $10,000,000 cap hit, and he posted a .876 save percentage across 52 games last season.
Stolarz, 32, put up a .893 save percentage in 26 games, solid numbers but not exactly a workload-proof résumé.
Toronto gave those two the keys and moved on from Hildeby, who's now backing up Andrei Vasilevskiy in Tampa.
According to The Hockey Writers, that Lightning pairing just landed the No. 1 spot on their list of the NHL's best goaltender duos.
Not a single mention of Bobrovsky and Stolarz. Not even close, with duos like Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren getting the nod instead.
Nick Paul's price tag just got a lot heavier
Here's the part that stings. Toronto sent Hildeby, a 2027 fourth-round pick, and a 2028 third-round pick to Tampa for Nick Paul.
Paul, 31, is a $3,150,000 rental who managed just 15 points in 51 games last season and finished at a minus-15.
That's a steep bill for a bottom-six center, and it's fair to wonder if the Maple Leafs overpaid to fix a different problem.
Toronto also picked up Darren Raddysh in a separate move, and he's the real coup here, a $975,000 defenseman who posted 70 points in 73 games.
Jim Hiller inherits this mess as Toronto's head coach, and he's walking into a group that finished 32-36-14 with a minus-46 goal differential.
The Maple Leafs lost the season series to Tampa this year, dropping two of three matchups including a 2-5 defeat in early March.
Is trading away a cheap, capable backup goalie really the move a rebuilding tandem needed insurance against? Toronto just bet it wasn't.
Bobrovsky and Stolarz now have zero safety net behind them beyond Artur Akhtyamov, a 24-year-old with three NHL games and a .864 save percentage.
Hildeby, for his part, only needs to be a reliable 20-game insurance option behind a goalie who can handle 55 to 60 starts a year.
That's the kind of role that quietly saves seasons, and Tampa just got it for pennies while Toronto still hopes Paul finds his scoring touch.
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Did the Maple Leafs make a mistake trading Dennis Hildeby for Nick Paul?
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