Leafs Fans Already Questioning If They Have the Right Captain

Oct 8, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) skates during the warmup before a game against the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

Toronto Maple Leafs fans are impressed with Anthony Stolarz‘s passion and some are calling for him to take on a very important role, and perhaps be a new leader.

It was the last straw for Stolarz who had been dealing with a tough week already, and this seemed to exacerbate things.

Fans Call For Anthony Stolarz To Lead Maple Leafs

Fans were happy that finally someone had some fire and passion when it came to the team, and it felt like a breath of fresh air after so long without anyone who truly won’t take any guff from anyone.

So happy in fact, a few of them were looking for Stolarz to be a new leader for the team, and others are looking for him to be THE leader going forward:

Can you blame Stolarz? First he lost his mask and still needed to stop a shot due to some egregious technicality in the rules, then gets run into not once, but twice; earlier Brandon Carlo shoved Jaden Schwartz into him.His outburst both physically and on the bench shows a certain type of fire that we haven’t seen since probably Mitch Marner and his tendency to let his rage fly.

Some are even questioning the choice to have Auston Matthews as the captain; a very scary debate less than 10 games into the year.

But it shows a problem within the Maple Leafs organization. For all that Craig Berube stresses about being mentally and physically tough, the team neglecting to help their goalie spits in the face of that mentality.

While it’s not possible for Stolarz to be a captain, his leadership through fire is something we haven’t seen from a lot of other players.

It better light something underneath the rest of the team or they are going to have to deal with a potentially hot-headed goaltender who won’t be so kind next time round.

Toronto will get a chance to turn things around against New Jersey on Tuesday, with all eyes on Matthews and Stolarz as to who is truly going to lead by example.

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Leafs Fans Already Questioning If They Have the Right Captain

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