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The opening of the season every October brings about a sense of optimism, even for the fanbase of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have had disappointment and despair woven into their DNA the last 57 years. The Leafs open the 2024-25 campaign in Montreal against the Canadiens, who are expected to finish at the bottom of the Atlantic Division, but against their historic rival, you can expect the young Habs to play like world beaters on the frozen sheet at Centre Bell.
Toronto has cause for positivity with the addition of veteran defensemen Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, but the season may rest on how successful their goaltending will be, with Joseph Woll and veteran Anthony Stolarz are the tandem to start the season.
Woll was phenomenal at times last season, but on the verge of taking the starter’s job away from Ilya Samsonov last December, the 26-year-old suffered a high ankle sprain and missed three months. Once he returned, he was a shadow of his former self until taking over for Samsonov in the playoffs, but once again injury prevented Woll from playing in the series decider against Boston.
The question before the 2016 third-rounder has never been ability, he has shown flashes since his days at Boston College, with Team USA at the World Juniors, with the Toronto Marlies, and with the Leafs, but the ability he continues to be short of is availability. On Wednesday, the Leafs brought up Dennis Hildeby on emergency recall because of a “lower body ailment” to backup Stolarz for the season opener.
Stolarz statistically was one of the best goaltenders in the NHL last season (16-7-2, 2.03 GAA, .925 sv %) as a backup behind Sergei Bobrovsky in Florida, but the 30-year-old has never played more than 28 games in his career and his ability to handle a larger workload is in question. That will be tested almost immediately. It has been my assertion that the Leafs will end up playing more than two goalies this season, and that veteran Matt Murray could end up playing a considerable chunk of games as Martin Jones did last season.
We will look more in depth at the different aspects of the 2024-25 Maple Leafs throughout the week, but for tonight’s opener the play between the pipes will be front and center.
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