With just over two weeks until the beginning of the regular season, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Anthony Stolarz’s camp are reportedly still grinding away at getting a deal done.
Stolarz is in the second (and final) season of his two-year, $5 million contract he signed with the club in July 2024. The 31-year-old finished his first year in Toronto with 21 wins and a .926 save percentage (top among NHL goaltenders who played 20+ games) in 34 games.
Despite a couple of injuries, including mid-season knee surgery and a concussion in the playoffs from a Sam Bennett forearm, the Maple Leafs value his strong play, both in the regular and postseason, and want to have him extended in short order.
Last week, Stolarz even put a deadline on negotiations, saying he hopes to have a deal done before the start of the regular season.
“Once the season starts, [hockey is] all I want to focus on, and that’s kind of all I want my attention to be,” he said. “I’m going to let my agent and (Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving) talk that out, and hopefully we can get something done here soon.”
Why Anthony Stolarz Wants Contract Extension Done Before Maple Leafs' Season Starts
<a href="https://www.nhl.com/mapleleafs/player/anthony-stolarz-8476932">Anthony Stolarz</a> wants to get all of the contract stuff out of the way before the Toronto Maple Leafs’ season begins.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Monday’s edition of 32 Thoughts, the Maple Leafs and Stolarz’s agent, Allain Roy, are exchanging numbers quite frequently, which is a good sign if you’d like to see a deal done before the start of the year.
“I think Stolarz and the Leafs are going back and forth and back and forth. And I think when they started, there was a pretty wide chasm there, and I do believe it’s narrowed a bit. (Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne) both said they weren’t crazy about term with him, and I don’t think term is going to be the issue here,” Friedman said.
“It seems to me that this is going to be likely three or four years. I think the issue has been the number. 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…
“I still think they’re going back and forth. 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. But I always look at it [as] who benefits by being able to take more of a chance, and it probably is the player in this case.”
Why The Maple Leafs Want To Get Anthony Stolarz's Contract Done In Short Order
The <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/latest-news/our-leadership-group-is-more-than-that-maple-leafs-likely-not-adding-alternate-captains-after-mitch-marner-s-departure">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> are confident they’ll get Anthony Stolarz locked up long-term.
Stolarz was an integral part of Toronto’s first-round series win against the Ottawa Senators. He finished the six games with a .901 save percentage before being knocked out of the playoffs with a concussion in Game 1 against his former club, the Florida Panthers.
In 142 career games, Stolarz has 64 wins and a .918 save percentage. He played a career high in games last season, and is looking to follow that up with another strong year in a Maple Leafs uniform.
“I put a lot of work in this summer on the ice, off the ice,” Stolarz said. “I was just kind of able to get out there [with] my goalie coach back in Jersey, and we worked on some things, and I can feel the translation from that already in camp.”
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