After rumours of contract negotiations for a few weeks, the Maple Leafs and Anthony Stolarz have finalized a four-year contract extension worth $3.75 million AAV.
The beginning of the regular season was Stolarz’s preferred deadline to finalize this extension, and the Leafs reciprocated as the two sides worked to meet the timeline. It goes without saying that when a player and organization both want a deal done, they generally find a resolution.
Stolarz joined the Leafs last summer on a cheap deal worth $2.5 million per season for two years and was excellent in his first season in Toronto: a .926 save percentage in 34 regular-season games, a 21-8-3 record, and a 4-1-1 record in the playoffs (.901 save percentage) before his injury.
The 34 games played marked a career high in games played for the 31-year-old Stolarz, underlining the only major question mark on his resume at this point. He has been excellent in three of his past four seasons, and when he held the starting reins, he excelled. The questions about his durability and ability to handle a true starter’s workload (a threshold I would roughly handicap at 50 games, something Stolarz hasn’t even come remotely close to playing) are warranted, and it is also what kept his salary on this new deal at a very palatable annual average.
The Leafs seem unbothered by those question marks, and they also don’t intend to use him as a true starter anyway, given their belief in Joseph Woll, whose three-year extension kicks in this season. Together, the tandem helped lead the Leafs to the second-ranked five-on-five save percentage in 2024-25.
This new deal locks in the Leafs‘ goaltending tandem at a combined price of $7.4 million for the next two seasons beyond the current one. Currently, six NHL teams are paying one goaltender more than the Leafs tandem’s combined number. Overall, the combined cap hit ranks 19th league-wide.
While there are question marks around both Woll and Stolarz, there is no denying the overall bang for buck the Leafs are benefitting from in net.
Stolarz was slated to rank among the best UFA goalies available next summer, among a group that could potentially include Filip Gustavsson, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Jacob Markstrom. I’d bet no more than one of those three will actually hit the open market (Markstrom) right now, which could have set Stolarz up to be the top UFA goalie.
The trade-off here is simple. With Woll currently considered out indefinitely, Stolarz is the undisputed starter, and if he were to come even close to replicating what he did last season over a much bigger workload, he would make significantly more than what he just signed for on the open market. At 32, with not a lot of mileage on him, and generally excellent play in recent seasons (plus, he’s a great puck handler), there would have been a collection of goalie-needy teams lining up to make a pitch.
But Stolarz signed now in part because, should he play some 30-odd games again, the market wouldn’t be nearly as bullish on him, and that would slot him into roughly the salary he just signed for now, although with potentially less term on the deal.
It was rumoured that the Leafs wanted a three-year term, and they clearly budged on the length, but Stolarz definitely budged on the AAV as well, and the two sides met in between to make all parties happy.
With the uncertainty surrounding Woll right now — which could ultimately be nothing, but none of us really know right now — I’d also argue this is a welcome piece of news overall, given the unknown. The Leafs really didn’t desire a month of Stolarz playing great, with speculation swirling about his price tag ballooning, while Woll was nowhere to be found. That potential headache is now completely alleviated; Stolarz clearly wants to be in Toronto, and the Leafs’ feeling is mutual (as it should be). It proved a great fit in the net and the market at large.
While goaltending can always feel a bit like magic beans from one year to the next in this league unless a team possesses one of a select few stud starters, it’s hard to quibble with this deal given the age (Stolarz will be 32 when it starts next season), his workload to date (just 142 games in the league, so plenty of juice left in his legs), his play for years now, and a salary that doesn’t need him to play even 45 games to justify the number. He’s already an excellent tandem goalie, and if he gives the Leafs anything more, the deal is ludicrously good value. If Stolarz falls off a cliff all of a sudden, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get out from under this contract, either.
Zooming out to next season, the Leafs now have just over $20 million in cap space with a roster that includes Stolarz and Woll locked in net, their current group of top-six defensemen, and 10 forwards on the team (I included Easton Cowan, and it also currently includes David Kampf). This gives them about as much flexibility as they could need to make changes or additions, all while the league’s most important position — goaltending — is relatively solidified on paper.
An organization that spent the better part of the past 20 years with goaltending question marks, the Leafs now have three goalies who range from good to promising locked in over the next three seasons between Stolarz, Woll, and Dennis Hildeby, plus another intriguing netminder developing in Artur Akhtyamov. It’s a really strong pipeline at the moment, one that provides continuity while ensuring no one is rushed up the ladder for the time being.
