If you had asked me who the Toronto Maple Leafs should give the No. 1 goalie spot to before Dec. 12–the day Leafs netminder Anthony Stolarz went down with a lower-body injury during a game against the Anaheim Ducks–I likely would have given my pick to Stolarz. But during the time he has been away from the ice, Joseph Woll has more than kept the Leafs afloat and shown why he should not be counted out as the top option for the team like many projected him to be coming into the 2024–25 season.
There will come a time, however, when Stolarz returns from his injury. And when he does, what would the best course of action be for the Leafs to take? Staring Stolarz? Starting Woll? Or, perhaps, splitting the time between both?
Let’s discuss.
Stolarz was on fire before his injury
Prior to his injury, Stolarz was having a great start to the season with Toronto. Coming off a very efficient season as a backup for the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers–putting up a .925 save percentage and a 2.03 goals-against average in 27 games–Stolarz performed extremely well to begin the season with the Leafs, putting up a .927 SV% and a 2.15 GAA in 17 games. Stolarz produced these impressive numbers all while being thrown directly into the fire as the team’s starting netminder with Woll being injured to start the season.
It wasn’t just his solid statistics that were making Leafs fans love Stolarz, it was his skill and ability to never give up on a save. Whether it was his goal-line stop against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 21 or even when he lost his blocker and grabbed the puck with his bare hand before it could cross the line against the Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 8, Stolarz has shown a Cup-champion level effort in the games he has played for Toronto. That made it an even bigger shame when he went down in late December and subsequently required knee surgery, leaving him sidelined ever since.
Woll to the rescue
With Stolarz out, Woll stepped up to the plate and has been doing a solid job. While his numbers are not quite on the level that Stolarz’s were, Woll has still put up a respectable .905 SV% and a 2.92 GAA since Stolarz left the game on Dec. 12. Bare in mind, Woll has also played at a very high volume since Stolarz’s injury, starting in 17 of the team’s 23 games since losing his tandem partner.
Woll hasn’t had the insurance that he or Stolarz had at the start of the season when they were splitting the load for the most part and could switch in for one another if a game was turning sideways. And even with a boatload of pressure on him, Woll has won 10 of the 17 games he’s started in since Dec. 12 and hasn’t been pulled in a single one. While his numbers may not be as impressive as Stolarz’s were, Woll has helped the Leafs remain as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, and until recently, kept them at the top of the Atlantic Division.
Who should be the top dog between the pipes?
While Stolarz remains sidelined, there is good news on that front as he has returned to practice with the team, taking the ice for a full practice on Jan. 28, the first time he had done so since getting knee surgery. And while no exact timeline has been given for Stolarz to return, Leafs coach Craig Berube did say that Stolarz could possibly return prior to the 4 Nations Face-Off (Feb. 12–20).
With Stolarz’s return looming, what should the team’s best course of action be? Do they ride with Woll as they have been? Should they go back to having Stolarz be the primary netminder?
This may not be an insanely exciting answer, but we believe the Leafs should have the two netminders split the duties. Obviously, Stolarz will need a few games to get back in the swing of things upon returning, but once he is fully ready and performing as needed, Stolarz and Woll should go 50/50, or at least close to it, with the remaining regular season games. Both goalies have shown that they can be the No. 1 option in net for this Leafs squad, so why not reward them for that?
If one netminder clearly starts to pull away from the other in terms of performance, that is when the Leafs should make a decision to shift one to a greater workload and/or give that goalie the majority of the starts come playoff time. If both Stolarz and Woll play equally great, then the Leafs will have a spoil of riches at their disposal for when the games matter most.
It has been a long time since the Leafs have had two goaltenders this good, and a little internal competition within the Stolarz/Woll tandem could make them even better as the second half of the season wears on.
