Veteran Coach Delivers Honest Take on Anthony Stolarz's Outburst and the Pressure in Toronto
Photo credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images
One former NHL coach was blunt assessing Anthony Stolarz's anger towards the Leafs lack of fight.
Anthony Stolarz ripped his team's lack of fight early in the season amid criticism over the fact that Stolarz did not have the backing of his team after being collided against the Seattle Kraken from Seattle's Mason Marchment.
Brandon Carlo watched on as Stolarz got out of his crease and went after Marchment, getting into the fight only when Stolarz began taking his anger out on Marchment.
Carlo defended not getting involved to reporters, saying that as the Kraken were getting penalized over the play that he didn't want to take a penalty himself and lose the Leafs power play advantage.
The remarks from Stolarz have brought debate over the situation, with a former NHL head coach giving his thoughts on whether or not it was the right thing to do.
Peter Laviolette Shares Honest Thoughts on Anthony Stolarz's Outburst
Peter Laviolette expressed his thoughts on Anthony Stolarz's situation on 'Leafs Morning Take', saying that the Leafs goaltender should have tried keeping his frustration private instead of opening it up to the media.
Anytime you bring something into the media that's inside the room, you're running the risk of noise and certainly, like in a market like Toronto. And so, you run that risk. I've always been of the belief that you just take care of things inside of the room and whether it's from a coach or from the players. Butyou know, oftentimes there's a microphone in your face right after the game and everybody's hot, and there comes times when you just kind of let loose and let it go.
Laviolette continued, saying that despite making it public to the media, that it's understandable speaking openly on a team's displeasure.
I don't think it's wrong with giving a fair assessment of your team like, know Detroit just did that. And so it was for me, that's just honesty, and I think that can be the best approach, but I do think that there's a time where you can let it rip in the paper, but you know, you're going to go down a road and start, you know, talking to teammates. Sometimes those things are I think they're better handled, you know, in the locker room, I'm private.
Either way, regardless of him speaking to the media, Stolarz's anger was already evident from the play itself, and one could easily guess that Stolarz would not have been too satisfied by a lack of action from Toronto's end, but it opens up familiar thoughts about the Leafs media.
The Challenge of Handling Media Pressure in Toronto
It's already a well known fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs have one of the hardest and most demanding atmospheres to play in, and the team's media plays a large effort in that.
While the Leafs beat do their job with professionalism and respect for the team, there are many beyond the beat that bring the most focus onto viral content that may make things more challenging of an environment to play in.
The Leafs have a strong media culture that exists in part for outrage and criticism, as seen with the Mitch Marner saga, it was a waiting game of how long until he's gone, and negativity over the situation. When the Leafs lost, immediately the media went into blame mode, and the team saw it.
The Toronto Maple Leafs message is made clear, ignore the media and the negativity that can come with it from those who have made a career from criticism, and focus internally on the ice and have the team's focus be on themselves.
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