Stolarz had a massive showing in his Toronto Maple Leafs debut the year prior, which was cut short due to an injury suffered in the playoffs. Entering this season, expectations were high that the goaltender would be a difference maker once again for the Leafs.

Unfortunately, it ended up being just the opposite. Amidst Toronto’s struggles, Stolarz had one of the worst seasons of his career. Now, he’s set to begin a four-year contract extension with a pay raise next season. Stolarz finding his game again will be a key for the Leafs entering the Fall.

In the meantime, here’s a look back at Stolarz’s 2025-26 season.

How the year went

Stolarz began the season as Toronto’s starting goaltender, as Joseph Woll took a leave of absence for personal reasons. The 32-year-old struggled early in the year while taking on a heavy workload, setting the tone for what would be a rough season.

On October 19th, Stolarz openly criticized his team after a 4-3 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken. Speaking postgame, he shared his frustrations with Toronto’s lack of effort.

“It’s just playing hard. Maybe we can take a page out of their book and start getting to the net,” Stolarz said. “For us, we like to go low to high and shoot, but for their goalie, it’s like playing catch in the yard: you’re seeing everything. We’re not making it difficult. We made it difficult in the third, and look what happened. We came out, tied the game, got a point out of it, almost scored with five seconds left. But it’s a little, too little, too late.”

Stolarz was especially critical of the way his team responded after he took a hit from Mason Marchment, saying he was “not happy” with the contact. He later walked back his comments, taking accountability for his own poor play through the start of the year.

On November 11, Stolarz suffered an upper-body injury against the Boston Bruins. It was later reported that he was dealing with a nerve issue, and he remained out of play for two months. He returned to play in late January, though he never found his form through the end of the season. His year came to an end in early April, suffering a groin injury.

Stolarz finished the year with a 10-10-3 record, posting a career-lowest .893 SV% and a 3.28 GAA. In his end-of-year media, he spoke about his desire for the team to come out harder next season.

“You just gotta play hard and you kind of have to bully teams. I think that’s what the successful teams do,” he said. “I think we did that towards the end of the year. Guys were sticking up for each other and that’s great. Going forward, we have to reflect on the second half here and say that’s something that we have to bring into next year.”

Statistical profile

Category	Production	Rank
Goals Saved Above Expected	-10.6	57th
Goals Saved Above Expected/60	-0.555	63rd
% of Expected Goals Saved Above Average	-21.8	63rd
SV%	0.891	54th

All stats at 5-on-5 via MoneyPuck. Rankings among 66 goaltenders with 20 or more appearances.

A quick glance at Stolarz’s numbers paints a very simple picture: the netminder was in very poor form this season.

Among 66 NHL goaltenders who made at least 20 appearances this season, Stolarz ranked near the bottom in many major categories at even strength. It’s quite a departure from the year prior, where he finished with a .926 SV% and had a 24.2 GSAA at 5-on-5, the third best in the league.