Former NHL GM Reveals Maple Leafs' Approach to Negotiations with Anthony Stolarz

Anthony Stolarz joined the Leafs on a 2-year deal mere days after winning the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers last off-season. At the time, the Leafs were questioned about their decision to head into the season with two goalies that had never played more than 30 games in a season.

That decision turned out to be an excellent one with Stolarz and Woll being widely considered to be one of the best tandems in the league last season.

Despite a mid-season knee surgery and an unfortunate concussion in Game 1 of the second round against Florida at the hands of Sam Bennett, Stolarz was one of the better acquisitions last summer. The former second-round pick posted a 21-8-3 regular season record with a 2.14 GAA and .926 save percentage.

Eligible to sign an extension as early as July 1st of this summer, the Leafs and Stolarz are reportedly yet to engage in any meaningful discussions.

Although the Leafs and Stolarz appear to have found a perfect fit with each other, the Leafs have a tough decision to make in offering him an extension, as mentioned by Pierre McGuire on the 'Toronto Sports Rush' podcast on Tuesday.

For the Leafs, their hesitation to engage -- even though it may cost them more in the long run -- is due to the fact that his body of work is limited to the past two seasons, along with the injury issues he faced last year.

The 31-year-old is expected to get double his $2.5M salary or more on his next deal, so long as he replicates or comes close to reproducing the season he had last year, and also stays healthy.