The Toronto Maple Leafs have gotten off to a shaky start in the 2025–26 NHL season. With a 5–5–1 record, the team currently sits in fifth place in the Atlantic Division, and the bad play has not been aided by the Leafs’ starting goaltender, Anthony Stolarz.
The 31-year-old netminder has gone 3–4–1 in eight starts this season, with a poor .886 save percentage and 3.27 goals-against average to go along with that losing record. While the Leafs have had offensive and defensive struggles that led to their current standing, Stolarz’s performance between the pipes certainly hasn’t helped.
What’s happened?
Last season, Stolarz was exceptional for Toronto, nabbing a 21–8–3, and putting up a .926 SV% and a 2.14 GAA. It was these numbers that earned Stolarz the starting job in the 2025 postseason, where he went 4–2–0 with a .901 SV% and a 2.19 GAA before an injury ended his postseason. With those numbers in mind, Stolarz is clearly underperforming this year in comparison, and with him being the clear-cut No. 1 currently, that does not bode well for Toronto.
Things have even appeared tense between Stolarz and his Leafs teammates in the early days of the season, with Stolarz calling out William Nylander and the team for their lack of effort and also expressing frustration that he got run into by Mason Marchment in an overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken, and no one protected him. While GM Brad Treliving has spoken on this, citing that Stolarz had spoken with his teammates since, and that the media had blown the situation out of proportion, the drama only adds to a rough start for Stolarz and the Leafs.
A Woll lot of hope on the horizon
The main reason why Stolarz has had to start in eight of 11 games thus far in the season has been due to the absence of his usual tandem partner and elite goaltender in his own right, Joseph Woll. The 27-year-old took a leave of absence from the team back on Sept. 23 to attend to a personal family matter, and the Leafs did not provide a timeline for his return. So with Woll out, Stolarz has had to carry a much heavier load than usual.
Luckily for the Leafs and their fans, the team announced Friday that Woll would be rejoining the team for on-ice practices as he begins his return-to-play process. This is great timing for the Leafs, as the injection of Woll into the lineup will undoubtedly add strength to the Leafs’ last line of defence and give Stolarz a less stressful role in net.
Wolly the goalie
Last season, Woll put up the best numbers of his career–excluding his first two seasons, where he played just a combined 11 games–putting up a 27–14–1 record in 42 games, a .909 SV% and a 2.73 GAA. During that 2024–25 season, Woll and Stolarz were often regarded as one of the best goalie tandems in the NHL, as both were starting-calibre netminders. And with Woll’s return now on the horizon, Leafs fans have to be excited about the team’s future outlook.
While Woll will still need time to prepare for regular season play, once he returns, the Leafs will have a much better foundation to build upon as the team looks to mesh better with many new faces, especially after the departure of right winger Mitch Marner. But when the Leafs do eventually regain their two-headed monster of Woll and Stolarz, they will at least have some extra familiarity with the division-winning formula they were able to construct last season.
