Garret Sparks

Junior and minor leagues

Sparks played minor league hockey with Chicago Mission of the Tier 3 Elite Hockey League, before joining the Guelph Storm of the OHL in 2010. He was drafted by the club in the 8th round, 160th overall in the 2009 OHL Priority Selection. Sparks made 19 appearances for the Storm, going 8-6-1 for a .890% save percentage, playing well enough to pick up by the Toronto Maple Leafs 190th overall in the 2011 Draft that year.^[1] Sparks would spend the next two seasons with the Storm, briefly playing in 3 games for the Toronto Marlies at the end of the 2012–13 season. In 2013, Sparks represented the United States and won gold at the 2013 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship in Russia. The next year, Sparks would split time between the Marlies and the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL.

Going into the 14–15 season, Sparks was expected to be the Marlies starter, however, a poor training camp lead to goaltenders Christopher Gibson and Antoine Bibeau beating him out on the depth chart, forcing management into sending Sparks down to the Solar Bears for most of the season, only seeing brief time with the Marlies when one of their goalies was injured. Sparks excelled with Orlando, recording a .936 save percentage in the regular season, adding a .921% in the playoffs.

The following season saw Gibson traded to the Islanders as part of a package deal for Michael Grabner, leaving an empty roster spot on the Marlies. Sparks succeeded in retaining the job, and served as the backup to Bibeau to start the season. However, an injury to Jonathan Bernier on the Leafs forced management to call up Bibeau, leaving Sparks with the starting duties. Sparks took off with the job, and was named the AHL's 1st star of the week for November 8, 2015.^[2] Sparks had stopped 96 of 101 shots faced during his time as the starter in Bibeau's absence, which was good enough to hold starting duties once Bibeau returned. When injury once again plagued the Maple Leafs, this time falling on James Reimer, Sparks was called up, in reward for his recent solid play.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Following a poor showing against the Capitals, where Bernier was publicly criticized by head coach Mike Babcock in a post-game interview, Sparks was informed that he would make his first NHL start on November 30, 2015.^[3][4] In his debut, he recorded 24 saves and a 3–0 shutout win at home against the Edmonton Oilers; the first time in Leafs franchise history that a goaltender recorded a shutout in his debut.^[5] Sparks would play in the next few games before being injured. After healing, Sparks was sent down to the Toronto Marlies. Sparks would see time as the Marlies' backup, as Bibeau had been playing strong. In an effort to earn Sparks more ice time, he was sent down to the Solar Bears. He would play one game for the Solar Bears before being brought back to the Marlies. In doing so, Sparks achieved a rare feat of playing in all three of the NHL, AHL and ECHL in the same season.

On February 27, 2016, Sparks was recalled by the Leafs following the trade of starting goaltender James Reimer. Sparks would play out the rest of the season with the Maple Leafs, recording disappointing numbers. Following the completion of the campaign, and with the Maple Leafs out of playoff contention, Sparks was sent back down to the Marlies to help the first place team in their Calder Cup championship run. Despite being favourites to win, the Marlies would suffer a round three exit to the Hershey Bears.

Sparks with the Toronto Marlies during the 2018 Calder Cup Final.

In the offseason, Sparks was qualified by the Maple Leafs, in order to retain his negotiating rights. On July 15, 2016, Sparks was resigned by the Maple Leafs to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal is worth league minimum $575,000 at the NHL level and $100,000 at the AHL, with a guarantee of $150,000.^[6] In November 2016, Sparks was suspended indefinitely by the Toronto Maple Leafs for violating team policy after directing violent and sexist language toward a user in an online group.^[7] During an argument which took place in the group, Sparks wrote, "I want to go to open hockey with you, drag you out to center ice and beat you into a [expletive] pulp until you can’t run that [expletive] little mouth of yours. God, you sound like a 13-year-old girl." When another member objected to Sparks language, he added, "Girls don’t even whine as much as this guy does."^[7] Sparks returned to the team later in December.^[8]

During the 2017–18 season, Sparks was named goaltender of the month of January after he recorded a 5–0–0–1 record, including two shutouts.^[9] He was called up to the NHL on an emergency basis in March,^[10] but was sent down without seeing any playing time.^[11] At the conclusion of the 2017–18 season, Sparks was voted the AHL's Top Goaltender of the season^[12] and named to the First All-Star team after he put up a 30–9–2 record and a league leading .936 save percentage.^[13] On April 15, 2018, Sparks, and fellow Marlies goaltender Calvin Pickard, were awarded the Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award.^[14]

Regular season and playoffs

Sparks with the 2018 Calder Cup.