Maple Leafs Hold Private Team Meeting After Anthony Stolarz's Criticism
Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs wanted to clear the air after Anthony Stolarz's comments recently, and decided to hold a players-only closed door meeting to sort things out.
The last week hasn't been great for Anthony Stolarz to say the least.
Not only did he have his mask taken off and still had to make a save (already a dangerous situation) but twice he was run into against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday and rightly snapped.
It was enough for the goaltender who decided to not only lay in some shots to former Maple Leaf Mason Marchment who charged him, but didn't hold back in letting his teammates know how upset and disappointed he was in their efforts.
A lot of unwanted tension has suddenly arisen in Toronto, and after Mitch Marner's departure we thought that any toxicity or issues were behind them.
Toronto Holds Private Meeting To Discuss Early Season Issues
But the players don't want to let things be a distraction, and have taken matters into their own hands and decided to hold a closed-door meeting to hash things out, and according to a few players it was a success.
Captain of the team Auston Matthews made it clear that it wasn't anything too severe and they were able to get their point across and work it out:
We're a veteran group. We're all big boys. You don't need to beat around the bush. It's an easy conversation we all had & you just move on, close the door ... We gotta be better & we will be.
William Nylander, who drew a lot of the goalie's ire after giving up on the eventual game-winner for Seattle, also mentioned that things have smoothed over:
It's all good. Look, we're teammates. He's a great guy. There's nothing that we need to, you know, talk about here. Yeah, he talked to me after & it's all good. It's been no issue since.
One person who also got a lot of the attention was defenseman Brandon Carlo, who not only shoved Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz into Stolarz, but was very late at protecting his goalie; electing to stand around a bit before jumping in.
Toronto Has Perfect Chance To Prove To Anthony Stolarz They Have His Back
Carlo admitted that he didn't want to risk ruining a potential power play and avoided retaliating however, there comes a time where having one power play doesn't usurp protecting your goalie.
Next game, Carlo should be a man possessed and trying to use his size and strength to intimidate and prevent any dangerous chances, and at 6'6, 220+ pounds it shouldn't be hard.
Head coach Craig Berube also stated that things have blown over and the team has moved on, essentially confirming this meeting was the means to an end and everyone can look past the drama.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to have to have all their tension hashed out ahead of Tuesday's crucial game against former head coach Sheldon Keefe and the New Jersey Devils.
It's a great chance for the team to atone for their shortcomings in protecting Stolarz, and find themselves back in the win column once again, and they'll need to prove to everyone they aren't as soft as detractors think.
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OCTOBRE 20 | 650 ANSWERS Maple Leafs Hold Private Team Meeting After Anthony Stolarz's Criticism Do you think Toronto's going to do a better or worse job at protecting Anthony Stolarz? | ||
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