The Toronto Maple Leafs are confident they’ll get Anthony Stolarz locked up long-term.
The 31-year-old, with one year remaining on his contract (two years at $5 million), has been eligible to sign an extension with the Maple Leafs since July 1. He’s coming off the best season of his career, where he put up a .926 save percentage and 21 wins through 34 games.
Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said on Wednesday at the team’s media day that they’re “hopeful” for a good outcome when it comes to extending Stolarz.
“We've been engaged with Anthony and his representatives. Nothing to announce today. Well, nothing to announce right now. We'll see what the day brings,” Treliving smiled.
“I don't get into a whole lot of discussion about contracts. We're seeing if it can fit. It's got to work for the player. He's got to feel comfortable. It's got to work for us. I'm confident, until proven otherwise, that we can find something that's going to work, and hopefully we can do that in short order.”
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Earlier this week, on Leafs Morning Take with Nick Alberga and former Maple Leaf Jay Rosehill, Stolarz gave a similar answer to Treliving’s on Wednesday. He wants a deal that works not only for him, but for the team too.
“I think it’s just getting paid fairly. Something that helps the team, but at the same time, shows that they believe in me,” he said. “So I’ll leave that to the agent and (Treliving), and for me, it’s just more or less just go out there and just continue to do what I do.”
Stolarz and Woll made for a good tandem last year. When Stolarz was out with his knee injury during the middle of the season, Woll put up a 12-7 record and a .907 save percentage through 19 games. He also filled in for Stolarz during the playoffs against the Florida Panthers.
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The two have also developed a strong relationship, which is positive when you want a tandem to work out in the NHL.
"Well, I think that, number one, they played real well together. We were sitting up here last year and that was a big question mark for our team, if you remember, really. Neither one of them had their bodies of work here. Nobody had taken the ball and run with it for 40-plus games, and I think in both their cases, they both had good years last year," Treliving added.
"I thought they support each other well, and again, I think in the league, there's a handful of guys left that are those guys that are going to play 60 games, 55, like they're getting fewer and fewer. I think it's more of a tandem league. And this year specifically, I think we lost nine days, nine calendar days in this year's schedule from last year's schedule because of the Olympic break. So it's compressed, and with the travel and the back-to-backs and the three and fours, I think you need two goaltenders, and we're fortunate we have two, right?
"So we saw it last year. I think they're both real solid goaltenders. I'd like to see if we can continue to keep them both here, and that's going to be the focus here in the next little bit."
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Reports suggest Stolarz’s contract could come in under $5 million, putting the duo’s cap hit between $7-9 million. That would place them in the middle of the pack of NHL clubs when it comes to cap hit taken up by goaltenders, per PuckPedia.
Toronto also has prospect Dennis Hildeby locked up for three more seasons, on a three-year, $2.525 million contract, which he signed on Sept. 2. He will likely be called upon if either one of Stolarz or Woll get injured this season.
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