Leafs Pre-Deadline Posture – Goaltending

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be out of action for more than two weeks, with the exception of team captain Auston Matthews, winger William Nylander, and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who are making their way to Italy for the Winter Olympic hockey tournament, beginning next Wednesday. While their teammates are likely headed to someplace sunny and warm, the work is just beginning for GM Brad Treliving, who will have less than two weeks to work with between the roster freeze being lifted and the NHL trade deadline on March 6. 

The Leafs, according to a variety of insiders, are in a posture of being sellers but more towards a quick reset and retool instead of a full rebuild. As it has been made clear from recent columns and various podcast appearances, my point of view is that the “tear it down to the studs” rebuild would be asinine, since the three main cogs at forward: Matthews, Nylander, and Matthew Knies, are all locked up for multiple years and are all under the age of 30, and both Matthews and Nylanders have full no-move clauses that would make it impossible for Toronto to get an equal return in a trade. 

The retool would require a strategic selling off of assets for a maximum return before the deadline, including rental players, and players with term at positions where the Leafs have depth. We will take a look at each position on the roster and evaluate what Treliving could be prepared to do.

Goaltending 

The Toronto story between the pipes has been a mess this season, with both Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll missing long stretches of time; Stolarz due to a mysterious upper-body injury that kept him out over two months, and a personal leave of absence that caused Woll to miss training camp and the opening month of the schedule. Stolarz once again has proved his inability to stay healthy, and when he carried a heavy workload during the first month, he went 6-5-1, with a woeful 3.51 GAA, and sub .900 save percentage. 

Of the two, Woll has proved to be the more consistent and durable, and started most of the stretch when the Leafs went 8-0-2 and climbed briefly back into the playoff race. The revelation has been the play of Dennis Hildeby, who was recalled after Cayden Primeau was re-claimed by Carolina. The big Swede showed that he was quite capable of being a NHL backup at the least, and perhaps a tandem partner. The fact that the 24-year-old signed a three-year deal for less than $1 million AAV before the season and that he will not be waiver exempt next season makes moving out one of the veterans a necessity. 

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicated on his appearance on FAN 590 Wednesday that Stolarz’s name has begun to crop up in rumors, something is surprising since the Leafs signed him to a four-year, $15 million extension last October. Concerns about his injury history could be at the center of that, but it is more likely that the Leafs see an opportunity of getting assets in return for a goalie with term, cost certainty, and only an eight-team no-trade list, with the potential of lowering the cap hit of their goaltending tandem from $7.4 million next season to under $5 million with Hildeby in the NHL. 

The goaltending trade market could accommodate someone like Stolarz. There are a number of clubs that may be interested in the 31-year-old, who had an excellent 2025, even with his $3.75 million AAV. If there was interest in Tristan Jarry from a supposed contender like Edmonton (who also has had his own injury issues and bouts of inconsistency) than a deal to other teams with goaltending questions (Vegas, Utah, Los Angeles) is possible.