MONTREAL – Anthony Stolarz had never started on opening night before Wednesday.
He played so well in a 1-0 loss to Montreal that the Maple Leafs and their head coach are evidently considering playing him again Thursday night — in New Jersey, against the Devils and their new head coach Sheldon Keefe.
“It’s something we gotta discuss here,” Craig Berube said after the Leafs were shut out in his first game behind the bench. “We’ll do that and we’ll make a decision.”
That it’s even a conversation is fascinating.
The Leafs just learned their hopeful No. 1 Joseph Woll would be unavailable for the foreseeable future. Woll felt sore after practice Tuesday, experiencing what Berube would later describe as “lower-body stiffness.”
Woll was placed on IR and will miss at least a week and perhaps more, maybe a lot more (If it’s a groin injury, his absence could be weeks). Which means Stolarz could be, and very likely will be, required for a lot more work in the weeks ahead than was anticipated.
This for someone who has topped out at 24 starts in an NHL season, a mark he hit last season in a supporting role with Florida.
Stolarz’ career high for starts in one given month: seven.
How much can the Leafs ask of him? Or maybe the better question is, how much should they ask of him, especially this early in the season?
Starting him on back-to-back nights, in games one and two of an 82-game season, with Woll already injured, feels dicey. All the more so with the home opener against Pittsburgh looming Saturday.
Are the Leafs prepared to start Stolarz three times, in three different cities, in the first four nights of the season? And if so, why?
Dennis Hildeby, who was recalled to back up Stolarz on Wednesday, has never started or even played in an NHL game. In other words, Hildeby would be making his first career NHL appearance of any kind on the road — in the Devils’ home opener, no less — against a team with Stanley Cup aspirations that just rolled through the Buffalo Sabres in Prague.
In other other words, there’s a lot that could go wrong — for one night anyway.
Last January, the Leafs could have given Hildeby his first NHL start on the second night of a back-to-back during their California road trip. They opted to go with Martin Jones for the second straight night instead (The “trip” was Los Angeles to Anaheim).
If Woll misses more than a week, which seems likely, the Leafs will need to get Hildeby in there at some point. That or recall Matt Murray to play games instead. In short, if not now for Hildeby, when?
“He was tremendous in preseason,” Stolarz said of Hildeby. “He has a nice calmness in his game and moves extremely well for a guy of his size.”
Hildeby was among the better rookie goalies in the AHL last season, finishing with a .913 save percentage in 41 games.
At 6-foot-7, he’s one of the few goalies who can look down (slightly) on the 6-foot-6 Stolarz. Has there ever been an NHL crease with two goalies as tall as Stolarz and Hildeby?
The Leafs may be fearful of dropping their first two games were Hildeby to struggle. They may also consider Stolarz is from New Jersey and grew up rooting for, yes, Martin Brodeur and the Devils.
This still screams like a situation that demands the long view.
Stolarz is going to be starting more games than ever before in the NHL this season. Why overburden him right away with back-to-back starts out of the gate? And what if Stolarz, who has dealt with some injuries himself over the years, including knee surgery in March 2023, were to get injured himself?
The Leafs would be left with a tandem of Hildeby and Murray in the third game of the season.
Stolarz’ debut had to be encouraging. He was signed to a two-year, $2 million AAV deal in the summer to split the crease in some way or another with Woll. It would be a real win for the Leafs if he’s able to replicate something in the neighbourhood of what he delivered last season (.925 save percentage) with a larger workload.
What the Leafs shouldn’t do is ask for too much too soon. But they might.
(Top photo: David Kirouac / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
