The Toronto Maple Leafs need to re-sign Anthony Stolarz

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced on Tuesday that goaltender Joseph Woll will be taking a leave of absence from the team to attend to a “personal family matter,” and the time frame of this leave is currently regarded as “indefinite.”

Luckily for the Leafs, the team’s starting goalie from last year’s playoffs, Anthony Stolarz, will be ready to start the 2025–26 season. However, that doesn’t remove one issue. Stolarz will almost assuredly help the Leafs this season. Heck, he may even take them on a deep playoff run. But there is one big problem with Stolarz.

His current contract expires at the end of this season, and he has yet to be re-signed to a new deal.

If Stolarz does have another solid season with the Leafs, he will be a dangerous asset to have out on the open market, where other NHL teams will assuredly make him some solid offers. And with Woll’s future for this season in question, and other factors at play, it is crucial that the Maple Leafs sign Stolarz to a new deal before his potential free agency becomes a reality.

Woll’s injury history

The 27-year-old Woll had a good season last year, putting up a .909 SV% and a 2.73 GAA in 42 games, but he also missed nearly the entire first month of the season with a lower-body injury, and Woll’s injury history runs deeper than just that one instance. In December of 2023, Woll went down with a high-ankle sprain, which ultimately sidelined the netminder for three months of the 2023–24 season, and upon his return, he was not the same as before the injury, posting a .890 SV% and a 3.14 GAA in the remaining 10 games he played that season.

Then, when the 2024 postseason rolled around, Woll was brought in with the Leafs down 3–1 to the Boston Bruins and facing elimination. He was stellar, starting for both Games 5 and 6, and allowing just a single goal in each game. But Woll did not play in Game 7 due to an undisclosed injury, and with Ilya Samsonov back in goal for Game 7, the Leafs lost the series on an overtime winner by David Pastrnak.

If Stolarz does wind up making it to unrestricted free agency and opts to sign elsewhere, will the Leafs be confident in handing the permanent starting job to someone with the injury history of Woll? Not likely. And while Woll could easily come back this season and avoid the injury bug for years to come, that’s a big risk that GM Brad Treliving would be taking for a team whose Cup-contending window is getting smaller by the year.

Stolarz deserves a raise

Woll’s injury history aside, Stolarz had an overall superior season to Woll in 2024–25, tallying a .926 SV% and a 2.14 GAA in 34 games. And it was these numbers and performance that helped Stolarz capture the starting job for Toronto in the 2025 postseason, where he put up a solid .901 SV% and a 2.19 GAA in seven games—superior to Woll’s .886 SV% and 3.56 GAA in seven games in those same playoffs. Mind you, Woll’s numbers were against the eventual Cup-champion Florida Panthers, while Stolarz’s were primarily against the wild-card Ottawa Senators.