The Toronto Maple Leafs had a benefit to their team last season that they didn’t have for a long time, and that is two strong goaltenders.
Anthony Stolarz, who signed a two-year contract with the team last offseason, put up stellar numbers in his first true season as a 1A goaltender, so much so that the Maple Leafs want to get him signed to an extension. Stolarz is in the same camp, voicing his desire to get a contract done before the season starts. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the two sides seem to be in agreement in terms of the length of the deal, but they’re working on finding a compromise for the annual number.
“It seems to me that this is going to be likely three or four years. I think the issue has been the number,” Friedman said on Monday’s edition of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. “And the challenge for Toronto here is that Stolarz really has a lot of leverage. He’s indicated that he doesn’t want this to go into the season, and so, that’s a little bit of leverage his way. And the other leverage he has is he can bet on himself at a time when there’s really not a lot of other goalies available out there.”
Stolarz indeed has lots of leverage here. Joseph Woll performed very well when called upon, but Stolarz was clearly the stronger link of the unit, playing to a record of 21-8-3 with a goals-against average (GAA) of 2.14 and a save percentage (SV%) of .926. These are Vezina-calibre numbers if he plays more than 34 games last season, but it was important to balance the workload considering neither Stolarz nor Woll had ever played a full season as a go-to starting goaltender.
Despite Friedman saying that there’s been some kinks to work out between both sides, he appears optimistic that both sides will come to an agreement before the season kicks off on October 8.
“I still think they’re going back and forth,” Friedman continued. “When two sides go back and forth, as much as it appears that these two are, it says to me that there is a willingness to do a deal there.”
Stolarz is entering the second year of a two-year contract worth $5 million in total, paying him $2.5 million annually. This is a huge bargain considering what he was able to offer the Maple Leafs last season, and while both sides seem comfortable with a contract in the ballpark of 3-5 years long, finding a number that works for both sides appears to be the final piece of business in these negotiations.