The best Toronto Maple Leafs offseason move is paying huge dividends so far
Where would the Maple Leafs be right now without him?
The Toronto Maple Leafs made various moves this past offseason with hopes to produce a winning product when the team eventually hit the ice for the 2024-25 NHL season.
Key signings in veteran defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Chris Tanev have helped stabilize the Toronto Maple Leafs back end. That new blue-line is a work in progress. Tanev and McCabe have had an amazing run as the team's new shut-down pair, while OEL has had a better-than-expected start.
Another strong move was hiring Craig Berube to replace Sheldon Keefe as head coach of the Maple Leafs. Berube has instilled a boring, yet effective defensive-style of hockey that has been somewhat effective so far.
The Leafs are keeping pace in the Atlantic Division, but are getting better results than they likely deserve, and questions remain: should they rush the puck more? Is this the best style for a team with so many superstars? And why does he keep dressing so many fourth liners?
But, by far the best move the Leafs made this off-season was signing Anthony Stolarz to replace Ilya Samsonov.
The best Toronto Maple Leafs offseason move is paying huge dividends so far
The addition of goaltender Anthony Stolarz has definitely been a welcome surprise, as he has now unofficially taken over the starting role in net for the Leafs.
Stolarz has played in 12 games so far and has a record of 7-3-2, a 2.17 GAA and a sparkling .927 save-percentage.
Stolarz currently has the highest save-percentage in the NHL, while he is fourth in goals-against average, sitting just microscopically behind Gustavsson, Vasilevskiy and Hellebuyck.
Stolarz has 12 stars, while the league-leader has 15, so it's not like he's just doing this in a small sample size - he has been one of the top three goalies in the NHL this season, and a case could be made that he'd win the Vezina if the season ended today (though it would likely got to someone with a longer run as a top goalie).
If you look at 5v5 stats, and adjust for goalies who have played a minimum of 300 minutes this season, Stolarz leads the NHL in 5v5 save-percentage and has the lowest 5v5 GAA in the NHL.(stats naturalstattrick,com).
Impressively, Stolarz is also in the top-ten in high-danger save percentage, and those who are ahead of him are ahead only slightly and most have played less minutes.
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By every standard that we have for measuring, Anthony Stolarz has been one of the best goalies in the NHL this season, and signing him has clearly been the Toronto Maple Leafs best off-season move.