Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz will endure a minor process to take away a unfastened physique in his knee, common supervisor Brad Treliving instructed reporters Tuesday (through TSN). Consequently, Toronto’s starter will miss the following 4 to 6 weeks.
Treliving mentioned Stolarz underwent an MRI in the previous few days, which revealed no different structural harm. He left his most up-to-date begin, an eventual win over the Geese on Dec. 12, with a lower-body harm after the primary interval. He’s already missed two video games however will now miss round 15 extra, with a return in mid-to-late January on the horizon.
It’s worse information than the Leafs anticipated once they initially awarded him a day-to-day designation and placed him on injured reserve, assuming he wouldn’t miss greater than the minimal seven days required for an IR placement. Nonetheless, present process surgical procedure now and coping with a prolonged mid-season absence is way preferable to a snowballing harm that forces him to overlook prolonged time nearer to the postseason.
Sadly, Stolarz isn’t any stranger to important knee accidents. He missed a lot of the 2017-18 marketing campaign whereas within the Flyers system after present process knee surgical procedure throughout coaching camp, and one other knee surgical procedure ended his 2022-23 marketing campaign with the Geese in February.
Fortunately, that hasn’t stopped Stolarz from changing into an elite tandem/backup choice when wholesome. His .927 SV% in 17 video games with Toronto this season has him on tempo to guide qualifying netminders within the statistic for the second season. He posted a .925 SV% and a couple of.03 GAA, each league-best marks, in 27 video games with the Panthers final 12 months whereas backing up Sergei Bobrovsky. His 24 begins final season have been a career-high, although, so regardless of his high-end numbers, there was comprehensible hesitance to crown him a starting-caliber netminder upon reaching free company final summer time. The Maple Leafs introduced an excellent match for him to separate the workload with the up-and-coming Joseph Woll. He inked a two-year, $5M contract to play in Canada for the primary time since a brief stint with the Oilers in 2019.
Toronto has had fairly the revolving door of netminders over the previous few seasons. Stolarz is one in every of eight for the reason that starting of the 2021-22 season to make not less than 10 begins for the workforce, becoming a member of Woll, Ilya Samsonov, Jack Campbell, Matt Murray, Erik Källgren, Martin Jones and Petr Mrázek. He’s put up one of the best numbers of any of them by a large margin and is on tempo to log the very best save share for a Toronto netminder since Curtis McElhinney had a .934 in 18 video games in 2017-18.
The Leafs are left with Woll and Dennis Hildeby between the pipes for the following few weeks. Woll has additionally performed effectively when dressed, posting an 8-4-0 file with a .918 SV%, 2.24 GAA and one shutout in 12 showings. He’s saved 5.9 targets above anticipated, per MoneyPuck, rating twelfth within the league. He additionally has a prolonged harm historical past, although, and Hildeby isn’t a compelling No. 3 choice. The large 23-year-old Swede has made three begins this season amid accidents to Stolarz and Woll, the primary of his NHL profession. He’s been serviceable however unimpressive, with a .875 SV% and three.68 GAA. He additionally has a subpar .897 mark in six AHL begins this 12 months.
It’s price noting that the Maple Leafs nonetheless have Murray within the system if Hildeby falters. The 30-year-old missed almost all final season after offseason hip surgical procedure however has been good within the AHL in 2024-25 since clearing waivers, logging a .919 SV% and a couple of.15 GAA with a 3-1-3 file. If he comes up and will get a begin, it could be the primary for the two-time Stanley Cup champion since April 2, 2023.
