Matthew Knies Has Made His Choice for the Maple Leafs' Starting Goalie Between Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll

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Chris Gerics
November 7, 2024 (12:51)

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If you had to ask the members of the Toronto Maple Leafs who they would prefer in the net, Anthony Stolarz would be the answer, at least according to Matthew Knies.

Heading into the season, a lot of speculation came about regarding who would be the Maple Leafs starter heading into this year. It was presumed to be Joseph Woll, however he was placed on injured reserve, leaving Anthony Stolarz as de facto starter.

Stolarz took the job and ran with it, not only being one of the best goaltenders in the league so far but making his teammates think twice about wanting Woll back in.

If you had to ask Matthew Knies, Toronto's blossoming star power forward, not only is Stolarz the best choice, but he allows the players to focus on the best facets of their game; not having to worry about the goaltending in the back of their mind:

"I'm really comfortable with him back there."

While comfort seems like it would be the last thing on the ice, it's all about chemistry and how you feel. Comfort equals confidence. If you can feel good about the fact you won't have two, three, or four goals scored on you in a period or two, it allows you to mentally focus on other factors.

It's not just Knies who has noticed though, as the Maple Leafs fans are finally breathing a sigh of relief that they have consistent goaltending with Stolarz in net. The Maple Leafs netminder feels the love too, and his performance against Boston may have just endeared him that much more to Toronto's faithful.

Stolarz loves it loud it seems. Why wouldn't he? The crowd more often than not plays a huge part in the momentum of the game, and you see many professional sports teams refer to the fans as "The Twelfth Man" in American or European Football; symbolizing their importance for using their passion as a weapon to distract the opposition.

Stolarz also has a bit of motivation as well this season, as he is normally seen as a premier backup, he's better than that and deserves to be a starter. It's something he wanted to show people when he signed in Toronto, and boy is it working so far:

So far this season, Stolarz has been lights out. Recording a 5-2-2 record with a 2.12 GAA and .928 SV%. He's 6th in the league in SV%, 6th in GAA, and only 19 goals against. It's a massive improvement over Toronto's goaltending over recent years, and it's shown that not only can Stolarz be a starter: But he should have been one a long time ago.

Luckily for the Toronto Maple Leafs and GM Brad Treliving, his decision to sign Anthony Stolarz has turned from a bargain into the downright steal of the offseason. Toronto should extend Stolarz ASAP and keep him in their plans for the foreseeable future.