With Anthony Stolarz leading the Maple Leafs to another win on Saturday, the team has to make a decision now: Keep starting him, or go back to Sergei Bobrovsky.
As Toronto headed into Vancouver on Saturday night, they needed to get a win to right the ship and salvage the last little bit of their Western road trip. They got the job done off the backs of Auston Matthews, solid defense, and a game-winner from Zack MacEwen of all people.
But no one stood out more than Anthony Stolarz, who time and time again helped keep the Maple Leafs in check, making crucial saves and only getting beaten when he had absolutely no shot of getting to the puck.
Toronto faced with a potentially season-defining decision
Chalk it up to his fifth win so far this year, and with the Maple Leafs facing some questions about Sergei Bobrovsky - and an increasingly tough Atlantic Division - they've got a decision to make:
Keep starting Stolarz or hope that Bobrovsky turns it around quick.
Toronto invested heavily in Bobrovsky this summer, not only signing him to a three-year, $21M contract but also shipping out both Joseph Woll and Dennis Hildeby in separate trades in order to open up room.
It hasn't worked out as well as the team had hoped, with Bobrovsky posting a 3-5-2 record with a 3.29 GAA and .885 SV%. He's basically been league average, and that's not going to win many games especially since he can't make a save.
However, look at Stolarz and you see a rejuvenated goalie who has something to prove after last year. He's 5-1-0 with a 2.66 GAA and .910 SV%. Those are the types of numbers he put up in 2024-25 and he's shown that even with some chaos in front of him he can stay healthy and reliable.
How can Toronto manage that health and reliability?
You can't force Stolarz into a heavy workload and risk getting him hurt again, but giving him consecutive starts with a few days off in between is a good way to go about it. Toronto plays Utah on Tuesday, then doesn't play until Saturday against Montreal.
It could be argued that a week rest for Bobrovsky is enough time for him to get it together, but it's also a perfect timeline to keep Stolarz as the starter while also ensuring he has more than enough time to rest and recover.
Their schedule isn't kind to them this November, and after the first week of the month they have four games in seven days. At that point, you use Bobrovsky as the starter and you could follow a schedule like this:
Nov. 3 - Stolarz
Nov. 7 - Bobrovsky
Nov. 8 - Stolarz
Nov. 10 - Stolarz
Nov. 12 - Bobrovsky
Nov. 14 - Bobrovsky
That gives Stolarz 5 days between starts at the beginning of the month, gets the second of a back-to-back against New Jersey, then can play the final game of that stretch against Colorado.
Bobrovsky earns Montreal, Minnesota and Edmonton which are teams that he has a combined 45-23-2 record against. The worst team out of those three for him is Edmonton, yet he still has a 2.85 GAA and .900 SV%.
It's not perfect and it certainly might not be how Jim Hiller wants to operate with his goaltenders, but if the Maple Leafs wants to keep winning then they are going to have to be faced with their biggest decision so far this year.
Who should be the Maple Leafs starter going forward?
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