Anthony Stolarz continues to make nice.<\/p>\n
A couple weeks ago, the towering Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> goaltender was justifiably breathing fire, furious about the lack of competitiveness<\/a> and protection his teammates were providing in the area around his net.<\/p>\n But lately, he\u2019s all smiles. Maybe it\u2019s the two consecutive victories, which halted Toronto\u2019s early-season losing streak at three games. Maybe it\u2019s the Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 <\/a>World Series run, which has undoubtedly energized the Leafs and had them hooting and hollering in the dressing room Tuesday night when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered off Shohei Ohtani in Game 4. Because Stolarz didn\u2019t fixate on the horrible miscommunication between defensemen Morgan Rielly and Philippe Myers, which had allowed the Calgary Flames<\/a>\u2018 Samuel Honzek to walk in uncontested and tie Tuesday\u2019s game with 5:11 left in the third period. Nope, Stolarz accentuated the positives after the Leafs\u2019 4-3 win when The Leafs Nation\u2019s<\/a> Arun Srinivasan asked him for his thoughts on the team\u2019s rush defense this season.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it\u2019s been improving,\u201d Stolarz said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the biggest thing. It\u2019s a long process, it\u2019s a long season. You\u2019re gonna have those breakdowns. It\u2019s inevitable that we\u2019re all human, we\u2019re gonna make mistakes. And guys are gonna get odd-man rushes, we\u2019re gonna get odd-man rushes. So I like the game tonight. We limited their chances. Guys are smart about stepping up in the neutral zone. And I thought we formed a wedge in the middle there and limited their offense.\u201d<\/p>\n Stolarz is finding his serenity despite the fact that, visibly, the Leafs aren\u2019t doing a great job clearing his crease early this season, most notably Tuesday when Joel Farabee was free to take multiple whacks at a loose puck on the blue ice before burying Calgary\u2019s second goal.<\/p>\n But here\u2019s the thing: despite what our eyes tell us, despite the narrative that the Leafs aren\u2019t helping their goaltenders enough early this season: Not much has actually changed from last season to this season in the Leafs\u2019 defensive play. The Leafs are allowing 3.82 goals per game, fifth-worst in the NHL, after sitting eighth-best at 2.79 last season, but it\u2019s not because their defense has cratered. Some metrics indicate they\u2019ve gotten slightly worse<\/a>, but, more than anything else, it\u2019s their goaltending that has regressed early on.<\/p>\n The Leafs are allowing marginally fewer scoring chances and expected goals than they did last season at 5-on-5, with very mild increases in shots and high-danger chances against. But after they posted the third-best team save percentage in the NHL last season at .912, they sit 29th in this young season at .874.<\/p>\n Despite the aforementioned storyline of Stolarz needing more help from his teammates, here\u2019s a snapshot showing the difficulty of his 5-on-5 workload per 60 last season versus this season, per Natural Stat Trick<\/a>:<\/p>\n SeasonShotsExpected goalsHD againstRush attemptsRebounds againstShot distance2024-2527.672.66.042.546.5738.192025-2627.422.396.471.394.6236.88<\/p>\n So Stolarz is facing roughly the same number of shots and slightly more high-danger shots but far fewer rush attempts and rebounds. The overall expected goals number is lower this season than last. On the whole, we can call the playing conditions a wash compared to last year, if not slightly more favorable. But whereas Stolarz led the NHL in goals saved above expected per 60 last year<\/a> \u2013 and the year before \u2013\u00a0among 37 goalies with five or more games played this season, Stolarz is 30th in goals saved above expected per 60.<\/p>\n Straight up: Stolarz hasn\u2019t been very good so far this season after signing a lauded four-year extension in September at $3.75 million contract hit.<\/p>\n What does it mean? Probably not much \u2013\u00a0yet. Stolarz has mostly been excellent in his tenure as a Leaf, and a subpar first eight games of 2025-26 doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s regressed. But it might mean he\u2019s buckling a bit under the most significant workload of his career. Last season, he started 33 games, breaking a previous career high of 24. The 33 starts constituted 40.2 percent of the Leafs\u2019 schedule. Even that workload was taxing on Stolarz\u2019s 6-foot-6, 248-pound frame, as he endured multiple absences due to injury \u2013 24 games due to knee surgery during the regular season, then the remainder of Toronto\u2019s playoff run due to a head injury sustained in Game 1 of the second round against the Florida Panthers<\/a>. This season, while the Leafs wait for 1B goaltender Joseph Woll to work his way back from an absence that cost him October, Stolarz has started eight of 11 games, meaning a man who has never logged more than 40.2 percent of an NHL team\u2019s workload sits at 72.7 percent so far in 2025-26 with the Leafs not trusting backup Cayden Primeau much and Dennis Hildeby remaining in the AHL with the Marlies.<\/p>\n The Leafs, then, pretty badly need Woll back. He sat seventh last year in goals saved above expected per 60, making him one of the best 1Bs in the NHL. They obviously can\u2019t rush Woll into action given whatever ailment and\/or life situation he was dealing with. But they sure will be happy when he returns. Stolarz had been the NHL\u2019s best goaltender on a per-start basis the previous two years \u2013 grading out even better than back-to-back Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck \u2013\u00a0but Stolarz may not be built to log massive workloads the way Hellebuyck is.<\/p>\n More bad news: the Leafs have been lucky on the penalty kill, which has a higher efficiency than last year\u2019s but is bleeding chances at a much higher rate. If Toronto\u2019s masked men don\u2019t bail them out the way they did last year, far more wins will turn to losses, and the Leafs could find themselves fighting for a Wildcard berth, not a division title.<\/p>\n _____<\/p>\n POST SPONSORED BY bet365<\/p>\n _____<\/p>\n Recently by Matt Larkin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Stolarz continues to make nice. 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