The previous Maple Leaf goaltender to call out his team, as Anthony Stolarz did Saturday, was never heard from again.
Coach Mike Babcock’s forehead must have turned as red as his mane when he heard young Garret Sparks tell the media in 2019 that the Leafs needed to show more emotion after a late-season loss in Ottawa. He banished Sparks to the practice roster.
But Stolarz is no kid trying to make his name in the NHL. He’s 31, part of a 2024 Stanley Cup team in Florida that succeeded with a pack mentality. They made it hell on the opposing net while protecting their bread and butter, Stolarz’s more famous stablemate, Sergei Bobrovsky.
When Mason Marchment of the Kraken bowled him over, the latest in a series of pokes to try and unnerve him dating to Sam Bennett’s accidentally-on-purpose elbow that scratched him from last spring’s playoffs, the Jersey Giant had enough.
Not waiting for Marchment to extract himself from twisted twine (Leafs defenceman Brandon Carlo loomed over, giving him that courtesy), the 6-foot-6 Stolarz flipped the net over, exposing the Kraken forward to pounce.
Stolarz was still in fighting mode when he met the press afterwards, a two-minute, 30-second “enough’s enough” evisceration of their sluggish (3-2-1) start, upset they weren’t giving opposing goalies the same grief and finally, their soft play on the 4-3 overtime winner where William Nylander waved at Josh Mahura coming right down the Lakeshore for his first goal in two years.
On a team not used to such candour, Stolarz looked and sounded like a team captain (netminder John Ross Roach had the title for the Toronto St. Pats 99 years ago.) It was a rant the team needed to hear. Auston Matthews and John Tavares, before him, prefer to keep such oration internal, coach Craig Berube insisting that the public doesn’t see the way Matthews can command a room.
That said, Berube, who gave his team the benefit of the doubt when no one collared Ozzie Weisblatt of the Rangers for running rookie Easton Cowan into his own post the game before, and didn’t dispute Stolarz’s strong statements, adding a few harsh chirps of his own.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
General manager Brad Treliving has tried to bring the Leafs out of the Kyle Dubas pacifist era, his predecessor often waiting until the trade deadline to add sandpaper to his skilled roster in a string of playoff failures. The irony on Saturday was that Marchment once had a future as Toronto’s crease-crashing power forward. Dubas put in much time and resources bringing Marchment through the chain to be a complete player, only to trade him to Florida for the Swiss miss, Denis Malgin. It was a move Dubas recently called his biggest regret in office here.
The frustrating part for all concerned is that Berube’s Leafs have shown the required toughness, winning the NHL’s toughest division in the regular season last year, and were a win away from the conference final. While Mitch Marner left a huge hole on offence, the belief was that adding Nicolas Roy, Dakota Joshua and Matias Maccelli, a full season of Scott Laughton (currently on IR) and bringing all six defencemen back would at least keep the structure sound and enhance scoring.
Yes, it’s just six games in, and every imperfect October brings a high degree of overreaction from fans and media. But good on the goalie to give mates a public scolding and start dishing out to encroaching forwards what Ed Belfour used to. Completing his Hall of Fame career in Toronto, Belfour thought nothing of giving trespassers a ‘how’s-your-father’ with an upward jab of his stick blade or delivering a blocker to the head.
Armed with his new four-year contract extension and the NHL’s best save percentage last season, Stolarz has elevated himself to the leadership group with Matthews, Tavares and second alternate Morgan Rielly.
It would seem Marner’s discarded ‘A’ has been claimed.
“(Stolarz) is incredibly important, he brings intensity on the ice and backs it up with his play,” Rielly said. “You want guys who care, who are motivated and want to win.”
And you want to protect them.
X: @sunhornby