Anthony Stolarz has wrapped his offseason training in New Jersey, and the Toronto Maple Leafs know their starter for camp is set.
Goalie coach George Bosak confirmed the update Wednesday, and the timing matters after everything Toronto went through last season.
Bosak said Stolarz put the work in this summer and looks particularly strong, adding that he's healthy heading into camp.
That health note matters. Bosak flagged it specifically, and durability questions in a crease can shape a whole season's deployment plan.
Head coach Marco Sturm inherits a group that needs answers everywhere. A settled crease is one problem off his plate before camp even opens.
Stolarz posted a .893 save percentage across 26 appearances last season, working behind a much heavier workload for the other guy in net.
That split made him the clear backup last season, not the workhorse. Camp will start to answer whether that role shifts at all.
Leafs staring down a 46-goal differential after last season's collapse
Now he's walking back into a reunion with Sergei Bobrovsky, who started 52 games and posted a .876 save percentage of his own.
Two goalies, two very different track records, sharing one crease. Bosak called it "a very exciting season" in his message to Stolarz.
Optimistic, sure. But optimism didn't save this Toronto group last spring, and the numbers from that stretch are ugly.
Toronto finished 32-36-14 for 78 points, good for 28th overall, with a goal differential of -46 and 299 goals allowed.
The finish looked like a car running out of gas on the highway, still moving, just barely. Toronto dropped seven straight to close the year.
Going 2-7-1 over the final 10 games, the last one summed it up: a 1-3 loss at Ottawa to end the season.
Stolarz carries a $2,500,000 cap hit against Bobrovsky's $10,000,000 deal, a gap that says plenty about where this pecking order sits.
But cap numbers don't stop pucks. Health does, and Bosak's update is the clearest signal yet that Stolarz avoided any setback this summer.
Does one clean bill of health fix a defense that bled 299 goals against? Camp opens with that question hanging over everything in Toronto.
-
Should the Maple Leafs lean on Anthony Stolarz as their true number one goalie this season?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Patrick Marleau's wife makes bold allegations regarding an unknown Evander Kane situation
