Maple Leafs forced to make drastic decision involving Sergei Bobrovsky

Toronto has to make a decision on whether to give Sergei Bobrovsky the green light as starter, and his underlying numbers show he should absolutely be the #1 goalie.

There's been a debate over who should be the starter for the Maple Leafs this season. Sergei Bobrovsky was signed to become the undisputed starter, but has only managed one win so far this year as Anthony Stolarz has two.

Though it's early on, Bobrovsky has been a bit shaky and let in some otherwise tame goals so far this year and questions about him potentially being past his prime began to surface. However, the later the game goes, the more he seems to settle down and make some pretty big and timely saves for the Maple Leafs.

Bobrovsky's analytics show John Chayka made the right call

But if you were to look at the underlying stats for Bobrovsky he's actually been a much better and clutch performer than the base stats give him credit for, and considering he is facing a ton of pressure early on - he's thriving.

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Bobrovsky has 4.7 goals saved above expected, ranking 7th so far this year over names like Ilya Sorokin, Sergei Murashov, and former Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Woll. But he's also doing it while facing the highest expected goals against chance out of all those aforementioned goalies at 16.68.

He's keeping the team alive at crucial points and despite his defense letting him down at times and not being as effective as they could be, he's been the anchor that holds things down in the crease.

If this is the type of Bobrovsky we can expect, then things look positive for the Maple Leafs going forward though you'd like to see the goalie have a bit of a stronger start - though that could be again due to a lack of proper help in front of him.

Stolarz shouldn't be left in the dust even if Bobrovsky starts

We shouldn't overlook Stolarz though as he has been a bright spot for the team early on and looks like a much more confident and healthier version of himself than we saw last season.

He has a 2-0-0 record with a 2.44 GAA and .904 SV% so far this year, and while it's only a small sample size, he was the only one who had wins for the Maple Leafs prior to Bobrovsky beating Colorado on Saturday night.

This is the tandem we expected when John Chayka brought in Bobrovsky as the team knows that Stolarz needs someone who can weather the storm and fight through things even if they start off shaky. It's allowed Stolarz to focus on staying healthy and being the best possible version of himself.

While you can point to some bad goals as a negative start to Bobrovsky's career, his ability to keep the Maple Leafs alive means he should run with things until further notice - because it at least gives them hope.

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