{"id":444386,"date":"2024-07-01T12:19:40","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T16:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=444386"},"modified":"2024-07-01T12:19:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T16:19:40","slug":"toronto-maple-leafs-searched-for-and-found-backup-goalie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/07\/01\/toronto-maple-leafs-searched-for-and-found-backup-goalie\/","title":{"rendered":"The Toronto Maple Leafs Searched for and Found a Backup goalie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/leafs\/\" target=\"_self\">Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> have made yet another splash in the 2024 NHL free agency pool landing their backup goalie for the upcoming 2024-25 season, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/stolaan01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Stolarz<\/a>. The news just broke and it is a two-year deal worth $2.5 million annually for Stolarz.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">2 years at $2.5 per for Stolarz and Leafs.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DarrenDreger\/status\/1807808632874029198?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 1, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>The Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Goaltender Anthony Stolarz<\/h2>\n<p>Goalie Anthony Stolarz is exactly a week away from being apart of a Stanley Cup Championship with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/panther\/\" target=\"_self\">Florida Panthers<\/a>, and now, the Leafs sign him. Stolarz is a 30-year-old, who was originally drafted way back in 2012 by the Philadelphia Flyers. However, it wasn&#8217;t until the 2021-2022 season that he began to find some traction in the NHL. That year with the Anaheim Ducks, he established himself as an NHL goalie. After a tough year for the club and himself numbers-wise too in 2022-23, Stolarz was able to get a shot with the Florida Panthers in 2023-24.<\/p>\n<p>Playing behind a strong defensive club like the Panthers, Stolarz really showed his skills. He went 16-7-2 with a 2.03 GAA and a .925 SV%. According to <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/stolaan01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hockey-reference<\/a>, both his GAA and SV% ratings led the entire NHL, as he just had the minimum number of games to qualify for league-leading statistics.<\/p>\n<h3>What Does this Mean for the Leafs<\/h3>\n<p>Well, the Leafs need stability. In goal, yes. On the blueline, yes. And that is what General Manager Brad Treliving has been busy doing thus far. He has <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/06\/29\/chris-tanev-trade\/\" target=\"_self\">landed defenceman<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/tanevch01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Tanev<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/07\/01\/toronto-maple-leafs-re-sign-young-goaltender\/\" target=\"_self\">re-signed<\/a> probably 2024-25 starting goalie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/w\/wolljo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joseph Woll<\/a>, and other moves as well. The Leafs weren&#8217;t happy with the expected number one in 2023-24, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/samsoil01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-01_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ilya Samsonov<\/a>, so what did they do, they dealt with it. This is a great example of GM Treliving being accountable, identifying weak links, and creating a strong bond with these type of moves. Stolarz is sure to show his appreciation with his play on the ice.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Toronto Maple Leafs have made yet another splash in the 2024 NHL free agency pool landing their backup goalie for the upcoming 2024-25 season, Anthony Stolarz. The news just broke and it is a two-year deal worth $2.5 million annually for Stolarz. 2 years at $2.5 per for Stolarz and Leafs. &mdash; Darren Dreger [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4222,"featured_media":435353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,4547,34,4548],"tags":[1169,662,955,72],"class_list":["post-444386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leafs","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","tag-anthony-stolarz","tag-nhl-free-agency","tag-nhl-news","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}