Anthony Stolarz aced his first season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, proving to be one of the shrewdest moves GM Brad Treliving pulled off last offseason.
Following the train wreck of a goaltender situation the Leafs had following their 2024 first-round exit against the Boston Bruins, the Leafs needed a solution beyond Ilya Samsonov. While Joseph Woll proved serviceable, his injury history left some lingering doubts as to Woll’s reliability.
So, Treliving went out and signed Sergei Bobrovsky’s understudy.
The original plan was for Woll and Stolarz to share the crease in a type of tandem situation. But as the season went on, Stolarz claimed the starting job. Stolarz proved he had the wherewithal to emerge from the shadow of a legendary goalie like Bobrovsky.
Treliving game Stolarz a two-year deal worth $5 million. At the time, the deal raised some eyebrows, especially after the club signed Woll to a contract extension.
But boy did Stolarz earn his cap hit.
Despite a lower-body injury that sidelined Stolarz in mid-December, his body of work before and after the injury spoke for itself.
In 34 regular season contests, Stolarz was 21-8-3 with a 2.14 GAA and a .918 SV%. Stolarz was equally solid in the postseason, going 4-2 with a 2.19 GAA and a .901 SV%.
However, his postseason was derailed by Sam Bennett’s elbow. Yes, the hit was intentional regardless of what anyone says. It was a dirty play and it didn’t get the attention it warranted.
But letting bygones be bygones, the concussion left Stolarz on the sidelines for the remainder of the Leafs’ second-round series with the Panthers. We could speculate that if Stolarz had not been injured, he would have played a much more prominent role and the Leafs would have made it past the Panthers.
Perhaps there’s an alternate universe where that’s the case. That’s also the same universe in which Peter Porker is a superhero. But I digress…
When looking at the sniff test, Stolarz did very well in relatively limited action this season. He started nearly half the games this season and carried the load well in the playoffs. That is why, in my estimation, Anthony Stolarz should have a leg up for the starting job next fall. I can see Stolarz taking becoming the full-time starter next season.
Final Grade: A-
Anthony Stolarz gets an A- as he was briefly in the Vezina Trophy conversation until he got hurt in mid-December. By the time he came back, there was no challenging Connor Hellebuyck for the award.
Be that as it may, the Toronto Maple Leafs will another year of reliable goaltending from Stolarz in order to compete. While a division title may not necessarily be in the cards, my sense is that the Leafs will try to go the way of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The goal will be to make the playoffs. From there, the plan will be to plough through the playoffs en route to what will hopefully be a lengthy run potentially culminating in a successful season.