Maple Leafs Have Gotten it Right in Net With Woll & Stolarz

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With so much focus placed upon a perceived No. 1 goaltender competition in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ net, the club and head coach Craig Berube continue to worry more about simply having a capable netminder between the pipes every night. By putting that approach into practice, the organization has managed to strike a highly successful balance between their still-inexperienced incumbent, Joseph Woll, and Anthony Stolarz, a veteran free agent signee who has spent most of his career as a backup.

The Maple Leafs have operating in something of a tandem goalie situation since Frederik Andersen anchored the crease prior to the pandemic, with varying results. Jack Campbell and Ilya Samsonov both had strong seasons in Toronto and the club is certainly glad to have passed on the numerous big-ticket goalies available over that time, including Marc-Andre Fleury, Ville Husso, Alexandar Georgiev and Campbell, himself. However, there was plenty of uncertainty along the way when it came to keeping pucks out of the net.

It’s still early, but no such uncertainty seems to exist at the moment when it comes to Woll and Stolarz. And while the play of the two men, coupled with the support of a greatly improved blue line, has been the driving force behind that confidence, the handling of the goaltending situation by the coaching staff has also been a key contributor.

Offseason Goaltending Decisions

In what has become an all-too-common offseason challenge for the Maple Leafs’ front office, general manager (GM) Brad Treliving and company were tasked with finding reliable goaltending in a thin market with minimal cap space. Samsonov had struggled in 2023-24 and was coming off of a rough postseason showing. Meanwhile, Woll was already showing himself to be somewhat injury-prone and had just 36 games of NHL experience under his belt, but played well in the playoffs and was as close to a sure thing as Toronto had.

After kicking the tires on Linus Ullmark before reportedly landing on the 31-year-old Swede’s no-trade list, the Maple Leafs pivoted to Stolarz, who was fresh off backing up Sergei Bobrovsky for the Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers. The 30-year-old, who signed for two years and $5 million, brought seven years of NHL experience, but had never played in more than 28 games in a season. Still, pairing a rising Woll with a dependable Stolarz who was seeking a bigger role seemed sensible, if a little risky. We still aren’t sure what Treliving was doing in bringing back Matt Murray, however.

Stolarz Excels in Place of Woll

If anything, it seemed like Woll would get the first chance to lay claim to the bulk of the responsibilities in the Maple Leafs’ net. Just 26, he sported a 2.94 goals-against average (GAA) and .907 save percentage (SV%) in 25 games in 2023-24, plus a sparkling 0.86 GAA and .964 SV% in two and change playoff games. However, on the day of the team’s season-opening 1-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, it was announced that he was unavailable because of a lower-body injury.

Not only did the last-minute announcement raise concerns about Woll’s past checkered injury history, but it forced the club’s hand and put Stolarz into the spotlight immediately. Yet, unfortunate circumstances soon gave way to a great early season story, as the New Jersey native thrived in the absence of Woll. Even after a tough outing in Wednesday night’s 5-1 loss to the Panthers, he owns a 7-4-2 record with a 2.33 GAA and .921 SV%. Stolarz has exceeded – and continues to exceed – expectations as a Maple Leaf, currently looking like a steal of a free agent signing.

Woll Gets Opportunities in Return

You couldn’t blame Berube and the coaching staff if they chose to ride the hot hand with Stolarz and relegate Woll to backup duty upon his return to action, especially after a rocky season debut that saw him allow four goals against the St. Louis Blues in a 5-1 home loss. To their credit, though, they didn’t succumb to the temptation to overreact to a small sample size and stuck with the plan.

Joseph Woll Toronto Maple Leafs
Joseph Woll, Toronto Maple Leafs (Photo by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

And Woll rewarded them. When he returned to the crease a week later, he stopped 24 of 25 shots against the Seattle Kraken, backstopping Toronto to a 4-1 Halloween night win. All told, if you remove that shaky first outing, he has posted a 1.43 GAA and .935 SV% in his share of the goaltending duties. It would have been easy and understandable to hand the reins to Stolarz until he faltered. That, however, would have offered Woll precious few opportunities to get up to speed and prove that he’s put his injury issues behind him.

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As things stand at American Thanksgiving, the Maple Leafs rank third in the NHL in team GAA (2.59) and fourth in SV% (.916). In other words, the balancing act they are conducting with Woll and Stolarz is working. Even now, if one falters, there is peace of mind in knowing that the other is playing at a high level. Inevitably, questions will emerge about who steps up come playoff time, but that was never going to be a question that was answered at this stage of the season, anyway. For now, Toronto boasts an elite tandem (at a meager $3.266 million cap hit, no less) that is giving them a chance to win every night.

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