Maple Leafs making significant push to sign Stanley Cup champion Anthony Stolarz

As we drew closer to midnight on the eve of Canada Day, Nick Alberga of Leafs Morning Take dissected Frank Seravalli's recent hit on Sportsnet and dropped an interesting nugget regarding the Toronto Maple Leafs' goaltending search.

At long last, amidst all the rumours and chatter, they have reportedly zeroed in on Stolarz and should be making a significant push on July 1st to bring him into the fold.

After the Leafs were eliminated from the post-season, they were linked to Juuse Saros, but that died down quickly, and he eventually agreed to an extension in Nashville. Then they set their sights on Markstrom, but the Calgary Flames were more focused on making something work with New Jersey - Markstrom's preferred destination - than anything else and rebuffed the Leafs' trade offer.

With both goaltenders off the market, many insiders linked Toronto to either Stolarz or Laurent Brossoit and it sounds like Brad Treliving and company prefer the former over the latter.

Stolarz had a rejuvenated season in South Florida where he backed up Sergei Bobrovsky. He ultimately led the NHL in goals against average and save percentage with scintillating splits; a 2.03 GAA and a .925 SV%. He finished the year with a 16-7-2 record and started a career-high 24 games.

It was tough sledding at the beginning of his career as he traversed through Philadelphia, Edmonton, and Anaheim before joining the Panthers ahead of the 2023-24 season at the age of 30.

After his great season, he has become a hot commodity on the open market for teams looking for a solid 1B to their current 1A and the Maple Leafs are enamoured with the idea of pairing him up with Joseph Woll.

It could be seen as a risky play considering Stolarz played in just 74 games and started 55 of them between 2018-19 and 2022-23, but if he can replicate his recent success, it will be a win-win for the Leafs, who could sign him to a relatively cheap contract - based on market value.

Source for Anthony Stolarz's statistics: Hockey-Reference
Anthony Stolarz