Anthony Stolarz spent the first seven years of his career split between the AHL and NHL, despite his pedigree as a second-round pick in the 2012 NHL Draft, selected 45th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers. It wasn’t until the 2021-22 season with the Anaheim Ducks that he became a permanent NHL goalie.
Stolarz was part of the 2023-24 Florida Panthers team that won the Stanley Cup, and although he only played in one game during their run, his contributions during the regular season shouldn’t go unnoticed. The 30-year-old not only set career highs in games started and wins but led the NHL with a .925 save percentage and a 2.03 goals against average, the best totals for any goalie with a minimum of 25 starts.
After finishing a career-best season year with the Panthers, Stolarz earned himself a nice pay raise in free agency following his previous contract, a one-year deal worth $1.1M. Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving signed the 6-foot-6 goalie to a two-year contract worth $5M, helping stabilize the crease with Joseph Woll.
The expectation – Be the goalie that has brought him to this point in his career
Stolarz has been pretty consistent throughout his career since his debut in the NHL during the 2016-17 season with the Flyers. Although he only played 34 games between 2016-17 and 2020-21 on three different teams, his numbers were incredible: he just didn’t have a big enough sample size to convince everyone else he was a legitimate NHL goalie. Well, that and he was playing behind some good goalies on his respective teams.
Through the first 34 games of his career, Stolarz put up a 10-10-4 record with a .914 save percentage and a 2.78 GAA to go along with three shutouts. He didn’t get some runway in the crease until the 2021-22 season with the Ducks when he broke out on a not-so-good Anaheim team.
In 23 games, Stolarz posted a 12-8-3 record while putting up incredible numbers on a Ducks team that was nowhere near playoff contention, posting a .917 save percentage and 2.67 GAA. He couldn’t replicate that performance in the following year in 11 fewer games but rebounded massively on a true contender in the Panthers last season.
It would be hard to believe that the Maple Leafs are asking Stolarz to be a 35-win, 60-plus game goalie with Woll right there too, but this ought to be a true split with more volume than ever. If Stolarz can get into somewhere between 35-42 games with his new club and record above-league-average numbers or better, it would constitute a successful season for him.
The goal — Establish healthy competition with Joseph Woll in open competition
Toronto’s goaltending tandem have played a cumulative total of 144 NHL games —108 for Stolarz and 36 for Woll — but the production from both netminders have been astonishing in their limited action. Stolarz’s career-high of 26 starts in a single season calls into question if he’s ready for larger volume, while Woll looked like he was going to start more than just 23 games last season, but between his high-ankle sprain in December and diminished production toward the end of the season, he wasn’t in the crease as often as fans had hoped entering the 2023-24 campaign.
Not only will Toronto and its fans want Woll healthy and in the crease more than he was last season, but in Stolarz’s case, pushing Woll in the crease, a healthy competition between the duo will be key. It will likely be a 50-50 split, but head coach Craig Berube may be forced to name a No. 1 starter if one goalie is playing significantly better than the other.
It’s always good to have healthy competition on your team, especially between the pipes because it pushes each goalie to play their absolute best. Stolarz was brought in this summer on a two-year deal because he was the best goalie on the free agent market, and his recent track record speaks for itself.
(Stats from hockey-reference.com)
