The Toronto Maple Leafs have been in a tough spot lately. Making matters worse, starter Joseph Woll’s absence due to personal reasons has left the team dangerously thin in net. However, Toronto quickly addressed the crisis by re-signing goaltender Anthony Stolarz.
In Woll’s absence, Stolarz is expected to carry the starting load for Toronto this season. With their backup situation now secured, fans can finally breathe easier. However, one insider was shocked by how team-friendly the deal turned out to be.
Insider in Disbelief Over Anthony Stolarz’s New Deal With the Maple Leafs
The Maple Leafs have been in a rough patch lately, with summer acquisitions failing to fill the massive void left by Mitch Marner’s departure. However, while the offensive struggles persist, Toronto may have finally found stability in goal heading into the new season.
The franchise announced Sunday that they’ve re-signed backup goaltender Stolarz to a four-year, $15 million contract with an AAV of $3.75 million. The deal comes after an impressive season that saw Stolarz post a .926 save percentage and 2.14 GAA across 34 games.
But while Toronto might be celebrating, insider Darren Dreger has been left surprised by the amount of money that Stolarz left on the table. And on the latest episode of “First Up with Korolnek & Colaiacovo,” he joined hosts Aaron Korolnek and Carlo Colaiacovo to give his take on the deal.
He mentioned, “I think that’s tidy work by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the group that was involved in this negotiation. I am not surprised by the term, but I thought the annual average salary, the AAV, was going to be a titch higher than that 3.75.”
Experts had estimated Stolarz’s new deal to be somewhere around the $4 million mark, but the current $3.75 million has Dreger surprised. “I think that’s, I don’t know if I’d call it a bargain, but that’s a team-friendly deal,” Dreger told Korolnek & Colaiacovo.
He believes that Toronto probably pushed for a three-year term, but they gave up the extra year so that Stolarz got the fourth year. Dreger continued, “I think many of us thought that it would be north of $4 million, and in part that’s looking at some comps that we knew were being explored.”
Dreger noted that while Stolarz’s camp argued that the goalie had really good career numbers with 140-plus games at a .917 save percentage, it’s the starts per season that didn’t fare well for him. Dreger also pointed out that Stolarz’s age and his history of injuries might’ve played a role in it as well.
“In the end, I think they cut more than a fair deal, and Anthony Stolarz got what he wanted,” Dreger said. The insider believes that the Leafs got an excellent deal. Not to mention, Stolarz’s no-move clause will also play in the Maple Leafs’ favor.
For the first year, there is a 16-team no-move clause, which kicks in next year as Stolarz enters the first year of his new deal. For the next two years, the list goes down to 10 teams and just five names for the final year. So if Toronto decides to trade the goalie down the line, they can easily do it past the first year.
