Chris Tanev Praises Anthony Stolarz's Passion: 'He's a Leader'

All the headlines over the past 24 hours have been focused around Anthony Stolarz and his fiery outburst towards Mason Marchment during Saturday night's game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Seattle Kraken.

Getting tired of being bullied in the crease, and feeling some resentment from an incident that happened on Thursday, it seems like the goaltender was a ticking time bomb and the charge by Marchment was the catalyst for the explosive show of force.

Speaking to reports after the game Stolarz was none too pleased and basically instructed his team to do a better job at protecting him, because he's fed up.

Someone who has been doing a bang-up job at protecting Stolarz despite his reservations is defenseman Chris Tanev, who is at least helping stop the bleeding as best he can.

Talking about Stolarz's rage-filled paroxysm, Tanev commended his goaltender and gave huge credit to his leadership abilities:

His play is never in question, as Stolarz has proven time and time again he belongs in the conversation as one of the NHL's top goalies, but this unheralded leadership is something that's taken everyone a bit by surprise.

It always feels like no matter the situation, Stolarz keeps a cool head, smiles through it and makes no qualms about well, anything.

This though showed a side that Toronto kind of needed. Don't get me wrong, the team has fantastic leadership but they are a more "lead by example" group who are a bit quieter.

Right now, that is letting teams bully their goalie and it can't keep going. Case in point Sam Bennett; if someone was crashing into Sergei Bobrovsky you'd best believe he would make sure they thought twice next time.

Say what you will, but Mitch Marner was the kind of player who not only led by example but wasn't afraid to be vocal on the bench or in the locker room.

While it's rare we see things behind closed doors, it's hard to believe anyone besides Craig Berube is screaming in the locker room.

It's led to some fans wondering if Auston Matthews is the best choice to lead the team given his quieter nature though we saw what happened with Brady Tkachuk; so playing it safe isn't a bad idea either.

Which is why it's up to a guy like Brandon Carlo to step in and make sure things are resolved there and then.

It shouldn't be up to the goaltender to rally the troops, but Chris Tanev is glad that Anthony Stolarz is showing that if no one else is, he damn well is going to.