"Like Easton Cowan, this will likely be Dennis Hildeby's final season seen as a prospect in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. The hulking 6-foot-7 goaltender got his first taste of NHL action in 2024-25, only two years after being drafted in the fourth round of the 2022 NHL draft, and while his short stint last season revealed that he still needed some seasoning in the AHL, he has shown through 19 games in 2025-26 that he's ready to be an NHL goaltender. And, if he wasn't a victim of the numbers game with both Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz signed to multi-year deals, he'd probably still be with the team."
"When Woll left the team to attend to a personal matter at the start of the season, the Maple Leafs initially played the caution card with Hildeby, opting to claim a more seasoned goaltender in Cayden Primeau off waivers to back up Stolarz and allow their young goaltender to continue growing his game in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Toronto Marlies. When the Primeau experiment failed after only three games, Hildeby was recalled just a week before Woll's return to the NHL, and cruelly enough, three days before Stolarz would suffer a long-term injury."
"The Swedish netminder made his season debut on November 8 against the Boston Bruins after Stolarz was pulled following four goals on 19 shots, and stopped 19 of 20 shots in a 5-3 loss to the Bruins. Hildeby started his first game of the season on November 9, allowing five goals on 47 shots against the Carolina Hurricanes, and in the Maple Leafs' next game, another tilt against Boston, Stolarz once again left early, this time due to an injury that would keep him on the shelf for a little over two months."
Dennis Hildeby, a 6-foot-7 goaltender drafted in the fourth round of 2022, earned NHL minutes in 2024-25 and has demonstrated NHL readiness through 19 games in 2025-26. The Maple Leafs initially kept him in the AHL after claiming Cayden Primeau when Joseph Woll attended to a personal matter. Primeau’s brief stint failed, prompting Hildeby's recall just before Woll’s return and shortly before Anthony Stolarz suffered a long-term injury. Hildeby made his season debut on November 8, produced mixed results in early starts, and provided crucial relief for an otherwise unreliable goaltending tandem.
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