TORONTO – The Maple Leafs have made their choice. Garret Sparks is in and Curtis McElhinney is out.

Toronto announced the final cuts to its training camp roster on Monday, settling the nearly three-week long battle for the team’s backup goalie job by placing McElhinney and Calvin Pickard on waivers and making Sparks the No. 2 netminder behind Frederik Andersen. 

Defenceman Connor Carrick is also on the move, traded to the Dallas Stars for a 2019 conditional seventh-round pick (the selection becomes a sixth-round choice if Carrick dresses in 50 games for the Stars this season). 
 
Mike Babcock said the decision to keep Sparks in the fold over McElhinney, who has been Andersen’s backup since he was claimed off waivers from Columbus in January 2017, was “very, very hard.” But his comments Monday afternoon also made it sound like the Leafs had already chosen Andersen’s partner before the competition began. 
 
“[Sparks’] camp isn’t what got it done. It was the history and knowing the guy, and understanding you have a long way to go,” Babcock said. “But [he’s] a 25-year-old guy going in the right direction who has a chance to get there.”

Based on the preseason numbers alone, a clear-cut choice between Sparks and McElhinney for the backup post never revealed itself as both netminders succeeded and struggled in their exhibition opportunities.
 
Sparks stopped all 22 shots faced in his first period and a half of action, then allowed eight goals on 48 shots over his next game and a half. McElhinney turned aside 30 of 31 shots faced in his first two appearances, before giving up five goals on 37 shots in Toronto’s preseason finale on Saturday.
 
McElhinney said after that game he expected to be in the lineup when Toronto opens its season Wednesday against Montreal, and by all accounts did nothing to cede any ground to Sparks. 

With Andersen getting 66 starts each of the last two seasons, McElhinney was challenged to make the most of very little game action and he flourished. The 2017-18 campaign was the best of McElhinney’s career, where he posted an NHL-best .934 save percentage among regular back-up goalies in only 18 appearances. 

Babcock said McElhinney “has been unbelievable for us, unbelievable man, great veteran,” but all that wasn’t enough to risk losing Sparks on waivers. 

Drafted by Toronto in the seventh round, 190th overall, in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Sparks is coming off a career-best season himself in the American Hockey League.

The 25-year-old was the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award winner as the AHL’s best goaltender on the strength of his .936 save percentage and 1.79 goals-against average in 43 regular-season games for the Toronto Marlies. He then led the team to its first Calder Cup championship in franchise history last June.
 
With that on his resume, and five years into his tenure with the Leafs’ organization, it seemed like a now-or-never moment for Toronto to see what Sparks had to offer at the NHL level. Babcock auditioned him there before, starting Sparks in 17 games during the Leafs’ 30th- place campaign in 2015-16, but hasn't slotted him back in since. 

The Leafs had a day off Sunday, and Sparks said he was “at peace” with whatever choice the Leafs made. Sparks’ fate finally revealed itself when he walked into the dressing room before practice Monday and saw his name on the board. 

“There was a couple times where I didn’t think it would happen,” Sparks said. “And that’s what makes this even sweeter, is finally getting here and having an opportunity to start being a part of this team and trying to help out Fred as much as I can.”

When Sparks made his NHL debut on Nov. 30, 2015, he became the first goalie in Leafs’ history to record a shutout in his first game, an accomplishment that moved the then-22 year old to tears on live television. But things got tougher from there, and he finished his NHL season with a .893 save percentage and 3.02 goals-against average.

Sparks has said he wasn’t mentally prepared for all that goes into playing in the NHL at that time.
 
“I’d like to be a much more polished and controlled version of myself at 25 [than I was at 22],” Sparks said. “[These last couple weeks] have been just a really unique experience too. You take everything you can from every person and player you get to come across in the game of hockey. I feel like I’m a better goalie and a better person for the competition I just went through.”

The major question now is whether he can translate his starter’s game into a much more limited backup role with Andersen. Late last week, Andersen referred to McElhinney as “the perfect backup,” in not only how he performed on the ice but how well he supported Andersen off it. Now that task falls onto Sparks. 

Babcock has refused to put a number on how many starts the backup will be getting this season, saying that “you’re going to play the guy who can win.” 

After all, it was only two seasons ago, before McElhinney arrived, that Babcock saw his carefully plotted goaltending routine undone by Jhonas Enroth’s terrible performances and inability to play the assigned backup role. Enroth lost all four of his first starts, which put additional pressure on Andersen and ultimately led to Enroth being waived. 

Sparks, for one, is seriously hoping Babcock decides to stick with his goalie schedule from recent years, and starts him on the second night of their first back-to-back this weekend. Toronto will be in Chicago to take on the Blackhawks, who Sparks grew up cheering for in his hometown of Elmhurst, Ill. 

Circling the game on his calendar months ago, Sparks knew if he won the Leafs’ backup job it would likely be his debut. Now that dream is tantalizingly close to reality. 

“It was a focal point of my summer. I’ve never even stepped on the ice [at United Center],” Sparks said. “I grew up going to 'Hawks game. My dad gave me an ultimatum at about seven years old when the season ticket renewal form came in: “Do you want to play hockey or do you want to watch hockey?” I chose playing hockey. Otherwise I’d still be a Hawks season ticket holder probably.”