Toronto's goalie situation just took another turn for the worse
Photo credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs goaltending situation got a lot more complicated with the latest update from Craig Berube regarding Anthony Stolarz's injury status.
Anthony Stolarz has been injured since Nov 11. when he left the Maple Leafs' game against the Boston Bruins in the first period. He left the game early due to an apparent issue, and the team has not clarified the exact nature of the injury.
But he hasn't been on the ice since then and we've heard nothing concrete about a potential return date or even when we can expect to see Stolarz back on the ice.
And Craig Berube's latest update suggests a return is not imminent.
What today's Stolarz update actually means for Toronto's goaltending plan
Speaking to reporters after the team's practice -- one that saw several big names resting -- Berube explained that Stolarz's timeline is undetermined and the goaltender has not even started skating yet.
The update comes courtesy of Maple Leafs Insider and The Athletic reporter Jonas Siegel:
Stolarz being 'a ways away' is not a good sign for Toronto, and especially not for Joseph Woll who can now look forward to a much bigger workload going forward knowing it's going to be either him or Dennis Hildeby.
Woll would be starting his fifth consecutive game against Columbus, and while he's been solid thus far, he also missed the first month of the season and had two conditioning games; he's far from being in mid-season form.
Why the timing of this setback matters for the Leafs' next decisions
Well, considering that Toronto did just get a slew of players back on the ice in some regard, it's an unfortunate turn of events that Stolarz can't join them, and his status being so mysterious is frustrating for fans to say the least.
Some transparency with the injuries would go a long way to regaining the fans' trust. More clarity from the team would help set expectations, as their updates have so far remained limited to general terms like 'day-to-day' or 'coming along.
We already don't know the return dates of guys like Chris Tanev and Auston Matthews, and while we can speculate, this is a team on the mend who is slowly getting healthy.
Meanwhile Stolarz has not yet begun skating, putting him on a different progression than Toronto's other injured players.
But perhaps this is the best situation for Stolarz.
Given Stolarz's 3.51 GAA and .884 SV% so far, the extended recovery time could help reset his game. This season, he has a 6-5-1 record but those other stats are definitely not the numbers you expect from him.
A long reset mentally and making sure he is as physically sound as possible is going to be critical to turning the season around.
So while we don't know when Anthony Stolarz will come back, there's a lot of season left so let's hope that Toronto gives him a foundation to stand on when he gets back.
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