TORONTO – Michael Hutchinson is hoping experience and a full training camp will serve as the perfect mix to win the Toronto Maple Leafs’ backup goaltender role.

“You already know the guys, you know the training staff, you know the players, you have that sense of familiarity,” Hutchinson said following the team’s informal skates at Ford Performance Centre on Thursday. “It goes a long way.”

Hutchinson underwent a season of change in 2018-19 after spending the past five years in the Winnipeg Jets organization.

He signed a one-year deal with the Florida Panthers in the off-season, and then was traded to Toronto on Dec. 29, 2018 as insurance when starter Frederik Andersen was sidelined with a groin injury. Hutchinson quickly found himself in the starter’s role after backup Garret Sparks suffered a concussion.

Hutchinson, who signed to a one-year, one-way extension worth $700,000 on June 29 to stay with the Maple Leafs, ended up playing in five games for Toronto last season, all of them in January. He compiled a 2-3-0 record with a .914 save percentage and 2.64 goals-against average. 

When Andersen returned, Hutchinson was sent to the Toronto Marlies (AHL), where he played out the year before his promotion to the Leafs to replace a struggling Sparks before the playoffs as the team's de facto No. 2.

“Between going to Florida and now here where it was all a whirlwind at once and it all kind of blends together,” Hutchinson said. “You come in now a little more relaxed and I feel at home and that’s a huge benefit.”

Hutchinson, 29, feels a calmer approach to this season will give him the leg up in winning the Leafs backup role in training camp.

Originally drafted by the Boston Bruins in 2008, Hutchinson bounced between the ECHL and AHL as he struggled to carve out a role in the organization. He joined the Jets as a free agent on July 19, 2013, and emerged as a suitable NHL-calibre backup when he played 38 games during the 2014-15 season and posted a 21-10-5 record with a .914 save percentage and 2.39 goals-against average.

“Early in my career, you got maybe a little too worked up about playing the second game of a back-to-back on the road with travel and not having played in two weeks,” Hutchinson said. “But, as you get older, you just kind of let those things roll off and go with the flow and focus on what you can control and giving your team a chance.”

Hutchinson’s perspective might explain why Sparks struggled in his role last season while previous Leafs backup, 36-year-old Curtis McElhinney, was successful.

“My last year in the Jets organization is where everything started to click in,” Hutchinson said. “The year before that, we weren’t performing up to our standards as a team and so you put a lot of pressure on yourself and then I wasn’t playing a ton. And then when I would play, I’d be too amped up for the games and it just doesn’t go well as a goalie when you try to force it.”

After playing in 60 regular-season games in 2018-19 and having played a total of 192 regular-season games over the last three years (more than any other goaltender in the NHL), Andersen appears to be open to the idea of scaling things back. Finding a competent backup for the Danish goaltender might persuade head coach Mike Babcock to ease the burden on his starter.

“I think it’s actually easier to do it early before the football season stops,” Andersen told reporters on Wednesday. “But I’m sure we’ll try to do some load management.” 

Hutchinson is hoping to provide the Leafs with that stability in the No. 2 spot. He has made an effort to establish a relationship with Andersen. They’ve texted each other over the off-season and played a few rounds of golf together.

“When I was called up and started playing games, he came up to me right away in the room and I was comfortable talking to him,” Hutchinson said of Andersen. “It’s great to have that soundboard to ask him questions and stuff and the things he does because he sees the game a bit different than most other goalies.”

Hutchinson has recency on his side but will have competition. In addition to goalie prospects Kasimir Kaskisuo, Joseph Woll and Ian Scott, the Leafs signed veteran backup Michal Neuvirth to a professional tryout.

“There’s always competition in camp. There’s a lot of good goalies and everyone wants to play,” Hutchinson said. “When they signed him, [Neuvirth], I really didn’t think much of it.”

Having tried to carve out a spot throughout his career, being a regular backup is the role that Hutchinson is perhaps best suited for. More importantly, it’s one he has fully embraced.