Leafs Goaltender Anthony Stolarz's Injury Status For Upcoming Games Revealed
The Toronto Maple Leafs made a move to place Anthony Stolarz on injured reserve due to his lower-body injury, and it raises concerns about his future availability.
During Thursday's game against the Anaheim Ducks, Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz appeared to have suffered a lower-body injury immediately after attempting a save on the Ducks' first goal of the game.
It was a seemingly innocent injury and Stolarz removed himself from the game as fans remained cautiously optimistic that the injury was nothing too serious. Toronto ended up with the win, but they lost a huge part of their identity this season.
Fans waited to see how bad it was, and unfortunately a new update has done nothing to give relief. The team announced they placed Stolarz on the injured reserve, closing him down for the weekend as well as the team's game on Dec. 18 against Dallas.
The news was announced by David Alter of The Hockey News on X Sunday afternoon.
Toronto Need A Brick Woll While Stolarz Is Injured
It's a huge blow to the Maple Leafs as they will be without their star goaltender for the next couple of games. This season, he has been nothing short of spectacular with a 9-5-2 record to go with a 2.15 GAA and .927 SV% while showcasing his potential as an elite starter at the NHL level.
Signed this offseason to a bargain deal at two-years, $5M, he has been every bit as good as Toronto had hoped and then some. There was also serious consideration for Stolarz to earn the Vezina Trophy this season due to his outstanding netminding.
For now it will be up to Joseph Woll to hold down the fort alongside rookie Dennis Hildeby in a reverse of the beginning of the season when Stolarz and Hildeby goaltended while Woll was recovering from his injury.
Woll has an 8-3-0 record with a 2.16 GAA and .921 SV%; Hildeby won his debut but struggled afterward and has a 1-1-0 record with a 4.03 GAA and .869 SV%.
Toronto has a few tough games coming up, first on Sunday against the notoriously pesky Buffalo Sabres, then head to Dallas on the 18th, followed by Buffalo again two days later.
The Maple Leafs need to have a statement game at least once and come away with two or potentially three wins and keep momentum high when Stolarz returns in case he's a bit rusty at the start.
