Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz appears to have earned the starting role heading into the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Jay Rosehill joined the show to chat about Stolarz’s recent play as well as the team’s ability to shift to Joseph Woll if needed.
Frank Seravalli: Let’s talk goaltending because we all know Stolarz has stood tall for this team. He had a tremendous first 20-something games of this year and then he had the injury, came back, and has rounded into form again. These numbers are pretty eye-popping at a .926 save percentage. He’s obviously your Game 1 starter, but in talking to some guys who know the position way better than I do, they’d say, ‘Well, Woll is still the guy at the end of the day who has a higher ceiling.’ You start with Stolarz, and Craig Berube has been kind of clear that he wants to ride one guy. Would you rotate at all?
Jay Rosehill: Not unless you have to. It’s nice that you have two solid goaltenders, two good options. Everyone was wondering about this week in terms of what’s going to be the story leading into the playoffs in who you’re going to go with and why and will it be controversial. It seems like Stolarz has just popped off. You look at those numbers. He has back-to-back shutouts and three shutouts in the last four games. He’s 8-0 in his last eight. He just decided for you that he’s your guy you’re going to start with. I don’t think when you talk about a goaltender who has that going on for him that you’re going to say he’s on a short leash. That’s not just not even fair. I don’t even think he has a leash. But if depending on how a loss happens or a couple of losses or how this series is going, it’s not as big of a decision to change goaltenders because you have Woll waiting in the wings and he has some experience in the playoffs. He’s elevated his game in the playoffs. There are guys in the know who think that his ceiling is very high. If it’s something you think is going to make your team better, I don’t think Berube will hesitate at all, but that’s not to say Stolarz is on a short leash.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here:
