Battle of Ontario Preview 2024-25

Goalies

The Maple Leafs goaltending situation is a question mark, to say the least.

Joseph Woll is a great goalie when he can stay healthy but that is a big if. His most games played in one season was this past season, 2023-24. He played 25 games posting a .907 SV% and 2.94 GAA.

Anthony Stolarz has been a great back up over the past couple of seasons and just won a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers.

He has never played more than 28 games in a regular season and only came in, in relief of Sergei Bobrovskiy once in this seasons Stanley Cup playoffs.

He had great numbers as a back up with a .925 SV% and 2.03 GAA. Those numbers are most likley not sustainable if he were to become the starter this season, but nonetheless he has upside to be a starting goalie in the NHL.

This is where Ottawa is miles ahead of Toronto.

Prior to the 2024 NHL Entry Draft the Ottawa Senators acquired Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins, for what seemed like pennies on the dollar. Boston has run a platoon system with Swayman and Ullmark for the last couple of years and they finally decided that it was time to make Swayman the number one goalie.

Ullmark won the Vezina trophy in 2023 with a 1.98 GAA and .938 SV%. Those numbers regressed in 2023-24 but he was still amongst the most consistent and best goalies in the league.

In 40 games he had a 2.57 GAA and .915 which was significantly better than either of Maple Leafs starts last season.

The question is if Ullmark can carry the load of 50 plus games because Anton Forsberg is not a platoon goalie, and should be the back up.

Whether they decide to limit Ullmark’s playing time or not, the Vezina trophy and years of experience in Buffalo and Boston trumps anything that Woll and Stolarz brings.

Final Verdict

The Maple Leafs are a contender and the Senators are still competing to get into the playoffs.

Maple Leafs have the edge up front with star forwards like Matthews, Marner and Nylander.

Although Ottawa has Chabot and Sanderson on the backend, Toronto’s D-core is better all around and is the best it’s been in the last couple of seasons.

Woll and Stolarz has upside to be a great tandem but Ullmark has been one of the best goalies in the league over the last 2-3 seasons. (All stats found on NHL.com and moneypuck.com. All contracts found on Puckpedia.com).

Ottawa takes the cake in the cage by a long slide but Toronto’s forwards and defencemen edge out Ottawa. Whether that translates in the regular season is yet to be seen, but the Maple Leafs should not struggle to make the playoffs and Ottawa will be battling for a wild card.