The Maple Leafs made their biggest swing of the offseason with Sergei Bobrovsky, but that move comes with a clear warning label: if he gets hurt, Toronto’s goaltending picture gets shaky in a hurry.
Toronto committed $21-million over three years to Bobrovsky with the idea that he’d be the steady No. 1 the club has been chasing. The plan is straightforward enough - Bobrovsky takes the bulk of the starts, while Anthony Stolarz handles roughly 20 games and gives the Leafs the kind of support role he filled on a Stanley Cup team in Florida. Toronto is hoping that formula can work again in 2026-27.
The problem is that the whole setup leans heavily on Bobrovsky staying upright. He’s been durable for most of his career, but he has dealt with injuries before, and any goalie carries that risk.
Bobrovsky will be 38, and while he’s not injury prone in the strictest sense, the history is there. He started just 37 games in 2015-16 and only 30 in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season.
The biggest issue has been a groin injury, including a stretch where he missed 15 games beginning in February 2015 and spent most of the 2015-16 season on injured reserve.
That history matters because if he misses significant time now, the pressure lands directly on Stolarz. And Stolarz has his own health concerns after two injury-riddled seasons. A knee injury that required surgery in December 2024 limited him to 34 games, and he also missed time last season with multiple ailments, including another lower-body injury.
If Toronto needed another option beyond that, Artur Akhtyamov would be next in line. He has starter potential, but he still needs more runway in the NHL before the Leafs could reasonably ask him to absorb that kind of responsibility.
The organization has already made its depth chart choices around that bet on Bobrovsky. Toronto traded Joseph Woll to Philadelphia, Dennis Hildeby to Tampa Bay, and Samuel Ersson - who came back in the Woll deal - to the Senators.
That leaves Akhtyamov as the main emergency option, with Ken Appleby and Samuel Hlavaj as the other names in the system. Appleby has four NHL games on his résumé, while Hlavaj has yet to appear in an NHL game and has only played in the AHL in North America so far.
Appleby would also need to sign an NHL deal before he could suit up.
That thin margin matters because the playoff race could be tight again. Last season, the wild-card cutoff in points was 99, and there were only 10 points between fifth and first.
Losing Bobrovsky for 15 to 20 games could mean giving away 15 to 20 points or more, depending on who ends up in goal. That’s the kind of swing that can decide a season.
There is still a path where it all works. Akhtyamov helped the Marlies win the Calder Cup in 2026 and earned Playoff MVP honours, so the upside is real.
And if Stolarz were forced into a bigger role, Toronto would be banking on the version of him that was among the best goalies in the world in 2024-25. But that version has to stay healthy, too.
With only one contract slot available and the club sitting $2.75M over the cap, there isn’t much room to patch holes. John Chayka has to balance whether the Leafs can score enough to offset any goaltending wobble, or whether the team needs to protect itself more carefully in case Bobrovsky goes down.
For now, the whole structure rests on one thing: Bobrovsky staying available. If that doesn’t happen, the Leafs may be asking a lot from Stolarz and a very limited group behind him. In that scenario, the skaters in front of the crease would have to carry some of the load that was supposed to be handled by the goalie room.
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What makes the projection interesting for Leafs followers is the way it creates pressure points for familiar faces while opening the door for newcomers to carve out meaningful roles. Health and consistency remain part of the conversation, especially in goal, where the team is still trying to sort out how much trust to place in Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz as the position gets redefined around them. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Camp Could Get Complicated Thanks To Two Overlooked Names
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Rifai is the other name worth tracking because his game is built around physicality and defense, the sort of profile that can stand out if the new coaching staff wants a different look from its bottom-end options. Neither player is a favorite to break through, and neither comes with any guarantee, but both have enough going for them to keep this camp from being as straightforward as it first appears. [Read more 🡒]