Dennis Hildeby had another fantastic performance for the Toronto Maple Leafs in their 2-1 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Throughout an up-and-down season for the team, the one thing the Toronto Maple Leafs have consistently had for most of the season is strong goaltending.
Although the Leafs have had five different goalies log minutes this season, they still rank just outside the top 10 in team save percentage this season.
Joseph Woll and Dennis Hildeby have been outstanding since Stolarz went down, and while everyone should enjoy it, the Leafs are in an unusual situation. They will have three solid NHL goaltenders once Stolarz returns to the lineup.
What should the Leafs do?
The easiest thing for this front office is to send Hildeby to the Marlies. He is waiver-exempt, so it would be an easy one-for-one move to send Hildeby down and activate Stolarz.
While that may be easy, the front office shouldn't do it. What they should do is keep all three goaltenders up and try to find a trade partner for Anthony Stolarz as soon as possible.
Much has been made about the holes in this roster and the lack of assets the Leafs have to fill them through trades. When a team doesn't have prospects or picks to move, they have to move off players on their roster. The Leafs have a surplus of goaltenders, so they need to make one of them an asset.
I've always been a bigger Woll than Stolarz fan, and I wouldn't move a young, cost-controlled, solid NHL goaltender, so that leaves Stolarz as the trade chip.
He signed a four-year contract extension on September 28th, which takes effect next season. The extension carries an average annual value (AAV) of $3.75 million, which should be very palatable for most teams.
The Leafs need a defenceman with Tanev now out until April, and Stolarz could help them bring in a valuable piece to the defence corps. Although he has a long injury history, he's been solid when in the net and would be a starter for several teams in the league.
Another reason I'd do it now is that we're coming off what was a very fair return for Tristan Jarry. This matters because goalies are notoriously undervalued in the trade market. At the 2024 NHL draft, Logan Thompson, who had a good track record in Vegas at the time, was traded to Washington for just two third-round picks. Thompson is now arguably a top-five goaltender in the NHL.
Since we have a recent deal involving a starting goaltender that was good value for the team trading him away, the Leafs should be trying to take advantage of the state of the marketplace.