Anthony Stolarz's Contract Year Could Put the Maple Leafs in a Tough Spot

When the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Anthony Stolarz last season to a two-year, $5-million deal no one could have expected the type of season he would put in. Named starter at the beginning of the year due to a Joseph Woll injury, he took the reins and ran with them.

Stolarz posted a 21-8-3 record with a .926 SV% and 2.14 GAA; he was stellar in his first season and proved without a doubt he deserves to be a starter in the NHL.

Before getting injured himself, he was on pace for a Vezina-esque campaign, and if he hadn't gotten concussed by Sam Bennett in Round Two of the playoffs, things might have been much different.

But in a contract year, he's certainly motivated whether he would admit it or not, and with how well he's played there's no doubt he is going to earn a raise on that $2.5-million AAV salary.

We saw what happened with Mitch Marner, and he earned a big raise in a contract year and Stolarz leading Toronto to success is only going to drive up the price.

Luckily for Toronto, they already have two of their goaltenders locked up long-term and also have quite a decent goalie pipeline in the minors. Losing Stolarz would hurt for sure, but if Woll can prove this season he can handle the pressure; then it could be the difference between a big free agency push or not.

Which is why he, probably more than anyone except maybe Auston Matthews is going to be under the microscope.

If the team notices that he is regressing, or has another couple of injury spells again then it might signal that the experiment is over and the team will move on and potentially bring in someone to backup Woll full-time instead of splitting duties.

Though if he does a repeat of last season, stays healthy, helps Toronto get past the second round; it's almost going to be mandatory that Brad Treliving re-signs him for a few more years and lock down pretty much the entire team except for a few stragglers.

With the team having nearly $25-million in cap next summer, money won't be an issue and they can offer Stolarz more than enough to keep him secure for the foreseeable future, but he's also going to have a ton of suitors.

So it really depends on how this season goes and it's a situation that Toronto has to continue gauging week to week, month to month.

They really haven't had stable goaltending in a long time, and with Stolarz he provides that luxury.

That comfort is going to cost them, but boy is it potentially worth it.