Maple Leafs Reporter Confirms Major Development Regarding Goalie Anthony Stolarz

It's been weeks since the Toronto Maple Leafs were forced to place Stolarz on injured reserve after the 30-year-old goaltender underwent a surgical procedure to remove a "pebble" from his knee.

The original timeline for recovery for Stolarz was set at 4-6 weeks, which would have seen him return towards the end of January. However, a recent report from TSN's Darren Dreger has indicated that Stolarz's official timeline has been pushed back..

The Leafs have experienced some upd and downs since Stolarz has been on the sidelines, receiving starts from Joseph Woll, Dennis Hildeby and even Matt Murray, with mixed results across the board.

While Woll has expressed excitement over the larger workload, back-to-back losses to Carolina and Dallas in his last two starts might be a strong indicator that he's not quite ready for the increase in responsibility.

Thankfully, a report from David Alter of The Hockey News confirms that Stolarz has finally returned to the ice on Thursday.

A short clip shared by TSN's Mark Masters on Thursday morning showed Stolarz testing out his surgically repaired knee with some movement exercises.

As for the report from Alter, he believes that the Leafs might be better served to hold Stolarz out until after the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. This would ensure that the Stanley Cup champion is fully healthy for the home stretch of the season leading up to the playoffs.

Stolarz has been sidelined since December 12th. After having missed more than a month of action, it's a relief to see him back out on the ice.