Stolarz set to carry early burden for Maple Leafs with Woll on leave of absence

TORONTO -- Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll spent much of last season picking each other up when the other was down, whether it be on or off the ice.

Nothing has changed.

With the Toronto Maple Leafs announcing Tuesday that Woll left the team indefinitely to attend to a personal family matter, Stolarz immediately came to the support of his fellow goalie and, more importantly, good friend. Whatever kind of backing the 27-year-old needs, Stolarz said he will be there for him if required.

"For him, just going to let him figure things out," Stolarz told NHL.com. "We're going to miss him for sure. But knowing the person he is, he's going to be ready when he gets back, and we're going to welcome him with open arms.

"We kind of hit it off last year at camp and it really became a good relationship that we have. Off the ice we can talk about anything. On the ice, it's always been a competition with us driving each other to be better and make the team better."

Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said that there is no set timetable for Woll's return, meaning Stolarz will receive the bulk of the workload early in the new season if his goalie partner isn't back by then. Dennis Hildeby, the lanky 6-foot-7 native of Jarfalla, Sweden, takes over the backup job after signing a three-year, $2.53 million contract Sept. 2.

The focus now more than ever becomes on the potential multiyear contract for Stolarz that he and the Maple Leafs are discussing. The 31-year-old is in the final season of a two-year, $5 million contract ($2.5 million average annual value) he signed July 2, 2024, and would like a resolution one way or the other by the end of training camp.

Given that Stolarz has never had an NHL contract longer than two years, the prospect of finally having long-term security brings with it the warm feeling of being wanted, in this case by the Maple Leafs.

"I think that's kind of the goal for every player in this league," Stolarz said. "You know, it's tough to make it but it's even tougher to stay. I've obviously learned that throughout my career. I've been on waivers a few times, I've been traded, so for me to be able to potentially call a place home for more than a year or two would be huge for me.

"I'll let my agent kind of work things out. I will say we've had some good talks, but once the season starts, I kind of just want to focus on that and just worry about our end goal, which is the Stanley Cup."

Stolarz already has his name on the Cup, that coming with the Florida Panthers as Sergei Bobrovsky's backup in 2024. It's a role he was used to, having never played more than 27 games in a season since making his NHL debut with the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 27, 2016.

All that changed with the Maple Leafs last season. He played an NHL-career-high 34 games, going 21-8-3 with a 2.14 goals-against average, .926 save percentage and four shutouts despite missing almost two months from Dec. 13 to Feb. 6 recovering from knee surgery.

After helping the Maple Leafs defeat the Ottawa Senators in six games of the Eastern Conference First Round, Stolarz sustained a concussion in Game 1 of the second round when Sam Bennett, his former teammate with the Panthers, collided with him. Woll started the remaining six games of the best-of-7 series, which Toronto eventually lost 4-3.

Stolarz was cleared to back up Woll for Game 7 and said he's come to training camp in good health. In the process, he said he holds no ill will toward Bennett.

"He reached out to me shortly after it happened and told me he'd hoped I was doing well," Stolarz said. "I just told him it was kind of an unfortunate incident, that I didn't think there was any malicious intent whatsoever, and that it was time to move on.

"In Florida, we'd go out to dinner together and would sit at the card table together. Obviously he plays with a bit of an edge but there was nothing done with purpose there. Our goal is just to beat them."

Whether it's his humility toward Woll's situation or appreciation for the long road he's taken to become an NHL starter, the one thing Stolarz has never lost is perspective. He says he's reminded of that whenever he takes time to call his dad, John.

"I usually pretty much do every day when I'm driving to the rink," he said. "He drives a forklift in a plant back in Jersey and works the graveyard shift, so he's usually driving home when I'm heading to the rink. Just checking how he's doing, how the family's doing, things like that.

"He's the one who sacrificed a lot for me. And I think I owe it to him to keep going out there, keep battling, keep working hard because that's the type of mentality he instilled in me."

Not to mention the type of friendship Stolarz has shown toward Woll in his buddy's time of need.