Stolarz Backtracks After Likely Locker Room Hand-Slap

Anthony Stolarz’s willingness to deliver an unfiltered postgame rant about the Toronto Maple Leafs’ play didn’t last long in Toronto—and it seems the goaltender quickly learned why. After openly calling out defensive lapses, weak backchecking, and a lack of physicality, Stolarz has completely reversed course, trading candor for polished “team speak.”

Just days ago, after being run over in his crease for the umpteenth time, he was blunt:

“I mean, I’m not happy… I’m going to try and stand up for myself… Maybe we can take a page out of their book and start getting to the net… Enough’s enough, and we’ve kind of got to start picking it up here.” That wasn’t all he said, noting, “I mean, a lot of guys have been here for a while. Overtime, you can’t let someone beat you up the ice there & gets a clear-cut breakaway.”

The remarks raised eyebrows for their candor and, even though they were mostly accurate, Stolarz wasn’t shy about airing his issues in public. Many felt the netminder was right to feel how he felt, but wondered if he may have overstepped, bringing the issues out from inside the locker room.

It’s Clear Stolarz Regretted It Or Got His Hand Slapped

Perhaps even stranger than the original comments were his follow-up remarks, a blatant lie about the team’s play in a loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night. His message couldn’t have been more different:

“It was a really good effort by the boys… I loved the effort tonight. Guys were battling… I thought we did a lot of good things tonight.”

The comments were wildly inaccurate, and that can only mean one of a few things. He’s either trying to do damage control or he’s being so sarcastic that he’s delivering the same messaging in a much different way. Either way, his comments on Tuesday night seem as problematic as, or even more so than, his initial remarks because they don’t accurately reflect how the team responded.