It's been a few years since the Toronto Maple Leafs had a bonefied starting goaltender who could log upwards of 60 games a season. In fact, not since the 2018-2019 season has any Leafs goaltender played at least 60 games. Now, with a true starter like Sergei Bobrovsky, can they finally trust someone to handle the majority of the season again?
Sergei Bobrovsky's history as a winner
Bobrovsky is certainly no stranger to heavy lifting in net. With the exception of four seasons, two of which were shortened by lockouts or pandemics, Bobrovsky has played more than half of the games in a season. This is the case across all of the teams he's played for.
The number of games that Bobrovsky has played in a season has gone down slightly over the past few years with Florida. He only saw 52 games last season, and with the Panthers missing the playoffs, he didn't add any postseason games to that total. At 38 years old, it's unrealistic to think that Bobrovsky will be able to go back to the 60+ game numbers of his career in Columbus.
The thing is, the Maple Leafs don't really need to get 60 games out of him. A solid 50-55 would be enough. That's one of the key reasons they brought him onto the team. Apparently, not knowing who would be in net each night was a big point of contention for Leafs brass. Bobrovsky can help fix that.
Bobrovsky will share the crease with Anthony Stolarz. As backup to Joseph Woll for the last two seasons, Stolarz has regularly played between 25 and 35 games a season for the Leafs. He's never been a starter in the NHL, and the most games he's ever played in a season was the 34 he played for Toronto in 2024-25. He's struggled with injury throughout his career, so the Leafs will hope he can stay healthy and keep up that backup goaltender number of starts.
What the Leafs will be looking to avoid is having to bring in three, four, or even five different goaltenders throughout the season. Their goaltender pipeline isn't super strong. If either Stolarz or Bobrovsky can't handle their share of games, the team may have to dip into the AHL to bring up Artur Akhtyamov. The rookie has three NHL games under his belt, coming out with a 5.24 goals-against average.
The Maple Leafs want to avoid returning to the years of injury-laden goaltenders and seasons split between half a dozen goaltenders. If all goes according to plan, Bobrovsky can and should help them avoid this turmoil and settle into a regular routine with a strong starter between the pipes each night.
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