The contracts
The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to a four-year contract with a $3.5 million cap hit and goaltender Anthony Stolarz to a two-year contract with a $2.5 million cap hit.
Toronto has never had a problem scoring goals. And now preventing them? That’s been a different story. The Maple Leafs allowed 3.18 goals per game last season, more than half a goal per game fewer than the league’s elite. And Toronto finally appears to be addressing that problem. First came the signing of Chris Tanev, one of the best defencemen in the game. Then the Leafs bolstered their depth on defence with the re-emergence of Oliver Ekman-Larsson and got some much-needed insurance in goal with the much-underrated Anthony Stolarz. It’s a pair of moves that make the Maple Leafs a deeper, more complete team, which, after years of being one-dimensional (and usually one-game in the playoffs), is a welcome sight for weary Leafs fans.
Ekman-Larsson is the most well-known name, but let’s start with Stolarz. For one thing, he’s absolutely huge, standing at 6’4″ and 250 pounds. He’s also pretty good. A career backup with an injury history, he’s never played more than 28 games in an NHL season with the Flyers, Oilers, Ducks and Panthers, but he’s put up good numbers every step of the way.
Sergei Bobrovsky was a Vezina Trophy finalist this season, but Stolarz outdid him in the regular season, with 21.7 goals saved above expected in just 27 games. That was seventh-best in the league in about half the games of those ahead of him. It wasn’t a fluke, either. This was the fifth straight season that Stolarz had a positive GSAx; only four other goalies can say that, and they’re not duds: Connor Hellebuyck, Igor Shesterkin, Juuse Saros and Semyon Varlamov.
Not only can Stolarz be the backup to Joseph Woll, who just signed a three-year contract extension with a $3.66 million cap hit, but he can also compete with him for the starting job. At the very least, it could be a relatively even split, so we’ll get a chance to see how good Stolarz can be in a larger role (or whether he’ll be exposed in the process).
A year ago, Ekman-Larsson’s career was at its lowest point, having been bought out by the Vancouver Canucks following a career-low 22-point season and a minus-22 goal differential at five-on-five, by far the worst of his career. But like so many before him (think Brandon Montour, Sam Bennett, Gustav Forsling and Carter Verhaeghe), Ekman-Larsson was rejuvenated by the Florida Panthers, who signed him to a cheap one-year contract after the buyout.
Not only did Ekman-Larsson have his best offensive season since 2018-19, with nine goals and 23 assists, but he also posted a career-best shot attempt percentage (56.14 percent) and expected goals percentage (54.33 percent). He can ably run a second power-play unit and remains a reliable defender in his own zone. He’ll likely never return to the 25-minute-per-game stalwart he was in his heyday with the Coyotes, but he doesn’t need to be in Toronto now that Tanev is there to play on the top pairing alongside Morgan Rielly.
With so many training miles, it’s entirely possible that Ekman-Larsson won’t reach the value of the contract by the third or fourth year, but at just $3.5 million a year, it’s not a huge risk. And having a player who just played a major role in a Stanley Cup run can only be a good thing for the perennial playoff disappointment.
The Leafs aren’t a perfect team after Monday’s moves, but they’re certainly better.
Ekman-Larsson contract rating: B+
Stolarz’s contract rating: TO
Degree of adjustment: TO-
(Photo by Oliver Ekman-Larsson: Bruce Bennett//Keynote USA/Getty Images)
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