Leafs Stymie Sens, Stolarz Stalemate

The Toronto Maple Leafs, in their first preseason contest against the Ottawa Senators, jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead and held on for a 4-3 victory against their provincial rival in Kanata, ON, on Sunday afternoon. Calle Jarnkrok, Nick Robertson, William Villeneuve, and Matthew Barbolini scored for Toronto, and the young Russian tandem of Artur Akhtyamov and Slava Peksa combined for 32 saves in the win. 

Robertson has continued to score his ability to score, as the 24-year-old tallied twice in the club’s intersquad scrimmage on Saturday, hoping to lock up a spot on the Leafs roster. Things got pretty interesting early in the second period when Ridly Greig slashed Michael Pezzetta, and Sens defenseman Tyler Kleven took a run at the Leafs enforcer. 

Moments later, Leafs defenseman Marshall Rifai took a healthy run at Greig, just missing an illegal hit to the head, but it was enough to draw a couple Sens players in Greig’s defense. Pezzetta then proceeded to give the Toronto favorite a knuckle sammich to the head for his troubles. There is no guarantee whether Pezzetta will make the 23-man roster, but in the span of 10 seconds in an exhibition game, the GTA native provided more physicality than Ryan Reaves did in an entire year. 

In other news, the negotiations between the Leafs and Anthony Stolarz continue, with GM Brad Treliving and the veteran goalie’s representatives trading offers, but thus far there has not been any progress made. 

“We’ve been engaged with Anthony and his representatives,” Treliving said last week. “We’re seeing if it can fit. It’s got to work for the player. He’s got to feel comfortable. It’s got to work for us. I’m confident, until proven otherwise, that we can find something that’s going to work, and hopefully we can do that in short order.”

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the most recent 32 Thoughts podcast indicated the two sides seem to be agreeable on the term of a new deal (between three to four years), and were pretty far apart on a number, but that has narrowed slightly in recent days. Stolarz has said that he does not want to continue negotiations into the season, giving the talks a deadline of just over two weeks. 

Friedman believes the AAV on a deal with Stolarz will be in the $4.5 to $5 million range on a three or four year deal, but could be lower if they decide to go longer term.