Anthony Stolarz's injury was called 'short-term', so why is there still no timeline?
Photo credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
TSN's Darren Dreger revealed there is still no timeline for Anthony Stolarz and the mystery surrounding his injury has started to raise some eyebrows around the NHL.
Anthony Stolarz pulled himself out of Toronto's Nov. 11 game against the Boston Bruins with what the team described as an 'upper-body injury,' but has not provided any further specifics publicly, and he has still yet to skate.
It's starting to draw serious concerns for the Maple Leafs as well as their fans, as each game he misses draws more attention to what exactly is going on.
TSN's Darren Dreger tried his best to shed some new light on the situation however even the noted insider was at a loss.
How a 'short-term' injury quietly turned into weeks without Stolarz
Speaking on TSN 1050's FirstUp program, Dreger explained that there still remains no timeline for Stolarz, and that there continues to be a mysterious aura surrounding the nature of the injury.
Dreger stated:
There's still no timeline for Anthony Stolarz. When I asked on the weekend there was no timeline.
This 'short-term' injury has now hit double digit games, and the team's insistence it was only going to be a couple of days -- now stretching way beyond that -- it's turned into the 'Mystery of Anthony Stolarz'.
The team obviously doesn't have to tell everyone what's happening but given he was their de facto starter at the beginning of the year, it's raising eyebrows.
This 'short-term' injury has now hit double digit games, and the team's insistence it was only going to be a couple of days -- now stretching way beyond that -- it's turned into the 'Mystery of Anthony Stolarz'.
The team obviously doesn't have to tell everyone what's happening but given he was their de facto starter at the beginning of the year, it's raising eyebrows.
Dreger is one of the more well-connected analysts in the NHL and if he doesn't have a clear indication from the Maple Leafs regarding Stolarz, it underscores how little has been shared publicly about the situation.
What Stolarz's absence really forces the Leafs to do in goal
Right now the team is reliant on Joseph Woll holding down the fort but can't risk overworking him either. He came in just as Stolarz was leaving, and while he hasn't been perfect, he has been solid.
But beyond him the Leafs have Dennis Hildeby as their backup, and while he's performed admirably, he's still in the early stages of proving himself as a full-time NHL goaltender.
Going even further, they would need to rely on Artur Akhtyamov, Ken Appleby, or Vyacheslav Peksa -- none of which are near NHL level goaltending. If Woll or even Hildeby were to go down, the team has a very limited contingency plan.
Chicago is making Laurent Brossoit available in a trade as we touched on recently, and the Maple Leafs could look at him as a potential option to help out Woll while Stolarz recovers, but that's going to cost assets and Toronto doesn't have a lot of those.
They can't afford to have instability in net, especially if they are clawing their way into a playoff spot down the road. Stolarz could be out for another two weeks or two months. We genuinely have no idea what's going on, which is what makes it more frustrating.
Even last year when he missed a month, we were told that he was having a procedure on his knee to remove some floating cartilage and fix some structural issues.
So the lack of detail around his recovery naturally fuels speculation that whatever is bothering Stolarz may be more complicated than initially described -- but until the team says more, that's all it can be: speculation.
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