NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 29, 2025
The Maple Leafs signed Anthony Stolarz to an extension, Sharks center Macklin Celebrini provides an update on his status, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
TSN: The Toronto Maple Leafs signed goaltender Anthony Stolarz to a four-year, $15 million contract extension with an average annual value of $3.75 million.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Some mixed reaction to this signing in the Toronto media.
Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz (NHL Images).
Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun believes it’s a good deal for both sides. Stolarz (who led the league with a .926 save percentage last season) gets a decent term, while the Leafs didn’t break the bank to sign him. If Stolarz can build on last season’s performance, this deal will look even better.
However, Damien Cox of the Toronto Star pointed out that Stolarz and fellow Leafs netminder Joseph Woll have injury histories, and neither is a bona fide starting goaltender. He believes they have the ability to play at the level of a seasoned starter, but not at the level of Sergei Bobrovsky, Connor Hellebuyck, Andrei Vasilevskiy, or Jordan Binnington.
So what do you think, Leafs fans? Give us your thoughts on this signing in the comments section below.
THE MERCURY NEWS: San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini said he’s “right on schedule” to return to the lineup in time for the season opener on Oct. 9 against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Celebrini, 19, didn’t provide details regarding the illness that has sidelined him from preseason play and kept him out of practice drills that involve a significant amount of contact. He did strength and conditioning work on Sunday while his teammates did small ice drills.
The 2024 first-overall pick isn’t expected to suit up for Monday’s preseason game, but it’s hoped that he’ll suit up for one of the Sharks’ other two remaining games.
THE PROVINCE: Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland missed Sunday’s preseason game against the Edmonton Oilers for precautionary reasons with a minor injury.
DAILY FACEOFF: Garland’s teammate, Guillaume Brisebois, is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury.
DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: Red Wings forward James van Riemsdyk has missed training camp and preseason thus far. He’s on a team-approved leave of absence dealing with a personal matter.
CBS SPORTS: Chicago Blackhawks winger Landon Slaggert is set to return to practice on Tuesday following treatment for an undisclosed injury. He is on track for the start of the regular season next week.
DAILY FACEOFF: 23 players were placed on waivers on Sept. 28.
NEW YORK POST: Former New York Islanders trainer Ron Waske died on Sunday at age 77. He was the team trainer from 1974 to 1984, and was also the team trainer for Canada in the 1984 Canada Cup. He went on to work at St. Lawrence University for 26 years, including a two-year stint coaching their women’s hockey team.
Waske was elected to the Professional Athletic Trainers Society Hall of Fame in 2006 and has a plaque in the Hockey Hall of Fame’s section for trainers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: My condolences to Waske’s family, friends, colleagues, and the Islanders’ organization.
The Stolarz contract is great for TO. It’s another team friendly deal that Treliving was able to sign for a critical player from last year’s team. Yes, there has been some injury concerns, but the Leafs have spent a very reasonable combined $7 million for two 1A goalies for the next three years. Being able to spend only 7% of your team cap on two quality goalies is superb cap management. Don’t forget there is a good chance that Reimer will sign as an insurance goalie and play with the Marlies and will step in if an injury occurs.
Totally agree, ThirstyDeer. In fact, on the subject of Stolarz (and the Toronto tandem), I posted a variation of this late yesterday in a response to Man on TV. Here I show not only the amount in dollars spent by each team on their 2-goalie tandem, but also the percentage of the cap to that end which involves slight variations in dollars for the same % (e.g. 6 teams at 7% with Toronto the lowest in actual dollars). The Leafs certainly are among those getting the biggest bang for the buck.
1. 14% NYR Shesterkin-Quick $13,050,000
2. 12% Boston Swayman-Korpisalo $11,250,000
3. 12% Florida Bobrovsky-Tarasov $11,050,000
4. 12% NYI Sorokin-Varlamov $11,000,000
5. 11% Seattle Grubauer-Daccord $10,900,000
6. 11% Tampa Vasilevsky-Johansson $10,750,000
6. 11% Anaheim Dostal-Mrazec $10,750,000
7. 10% Vancouver Demko-Lankinen $9,500,000
8. 10% St. Louis Binnington-Hofer $9,400,000
9. 10% Winnipeg Hellebuyck-Comrie $9,325,000
10. 10% Ottawa Ullmark-Merilainen $9,300,000
11. 10% Dallas Oettinger-DeSmith $9,250,000
12. 9% Detroit Gibson-Talbot $8,900,000
13. 9% Washington Thompson-Lindgren $8,850,000
14. 9% Nashville Saros-Annunen $8,577,500
15. 8% Los Angeles Kuemper-Forsberg $7,500,000
16. 8% Chicago Knight-Soderblom $7,250,000
17. 8% Vegas Hill-Schmid $7,125,000
18. 7% Col Blackwood-Wedgewood $6,750,000
19. 7% Pittsburgh Jarry-Silovs – $6,255,000
20. 7% Buffalo Lyon- Luukkonen $6,250,000
20. 7% Utah Vejmelka-Vanecek $6,250,00
21. 7% Columbus Merzlikins-Greaves $6,212,500
22. 7% Toronto Woll-Stolarz $6,166,667
23. 6% Minn Gustavsson-Wallstedt $5,950,000
24. 6% New Jersey Markstrom-Allen – $5,925,000
25. 5% Philadelphia Vladar-Ersson $4,800,000
26. 5% Carolina Anderssen-Kochetkov $4,750,000
27. 5% San Jose Nedejkovic-Askarov $4,500,000
28. 5% Mtl Montembeault-Kahkonen $4,300,000
29. 4% Edmonton Skinner-Pickard $3,600,000
30. 2% Calgary Wolf-Cooley $1,625,000
I am not sure what Cox is expecting. What he stated is true and fair but what is the alternative?
The deal seems like a win for the Leafs to me.
Totally agree, BT did what he could with the cards at hand, I mean, what would have been the alternative?
6 of the top ten did not make the playoffs last year.Poor distribution of resources.General Managers reevaluate your lineups.
Sr, check out a similar list for cap spending on thje 3 highest-cost Forwards, which has 15 different percentages of the cap ranging from a high of 34% to a low of 16%. 9 teams in the top 10 percentages did not make the playoffs. Columbus, which ranks low in both the goalie and forward lists, came so very close.
1. 34% Toronto Matthews-Nylander-Knies $32,500,000
1. 34% Edmonton Draisaitl-McDavid-Hyman $32,000,000
2. 33% Vegas F Marner-Eichel-Stone $31,500,000
3. 32% Dallas F Rantanen-Seguin-Hintz $30,300,000
4. 30% NYR F Panarin-Zibanejad-Miller $28,142,857
4. 30% Florida Barkov-Tkachuk-Reinhart $28,125,000
4. 30% Colorado F MacKinnon-Nelson-Landeskog $28,100,000
5. 29% Tampa Kucherov-Point-Guentzel $28,000,000
6. 27% Carolina Aho-Ehlers-Svechnikov $26,000,000
7. 26% Boston Pastrnak-Elias Lindholm-Mittelstadt $24,750,000
7. 26% New Jersey Meier-Hughes-Bratt $24,675,009
7. 26% Detroit F Larkin-Raymond-DeBrincat $24,650,000
7. 26% NYI Barzal-Horvat-Lee $24,640,000
7. 26% Washington Ovechkin-Dubois-Wilson $24,500,000
7. 26% Montreal Laine-Suzuki-Caufield $24,425,000
7. 26% Vancouver Pettersson-Boeser-DeBrusk $24,350,000
8. 25% St. Louis Kyrou-Thomas-Buchnevich $24,250,000
8. 25% Calgary Huberdeau-Kadri-Coronato $24,000,000
8. 25% Ottawa Stutzle-Tkachuk-Cozens $23,655,714
8. 25% Winnipeg Scheifele-Vilardi-Connor $23,142,857
9. 24% Philadelphia Konecny-Couturier-Tippett $22,700,000
10. 23% Nashville Forsberg-Stamkos-Marchessault $22,000,000
10. 23% Utah Peterka-Keller-Guenther $21,992,875
11. 22% Minnesota Kaprizov-Boldy-Eriksson-Ek $21,250,000
11. 22% Los Angeles Fiala-Kopitar-Byfield $21,125,000
11. 22% Anaheim Granlund-Terry-McTavish $21,000,000
12. 21% Buffalo F Norris-Thompson-McLeod $20,072,857
12. 21% Pittsburgh Crosby-Malkin-Rust $19,925,000
13. 20% San Jose Couture-Toffoli-Wennberg $19,000,000
13. 20% Seattle Beniers-Stephenson-Schwartz $18,892,857
14. 17% Chicago Bertuzzi-Burakovsky-Teravainen $16,400,000
15. 16% Columbus Monahan-Coyle-Voronkov $14,925,000
JVR waiting for the birth of twins.
I feel the same: Toronto seems like they got two decent goaltenders. He gets a good deal with term. From watching Toronto last year, it doesn’t appear like they have big worries when it comes to goaltending; they both played well.
I agree that it’s a fair deal for the Leafs. Good cap hit for a starting goalie and reasonable term. Stolarz is not a superstar goalie by any means, they won’t win the Cup because of him. But there’s no indication that any better goalie will be available any time soon at reasonable cost. The Leafs best option now is to continue with the goalies they have.
Cox is an idiot, by his logic only a $10m (appr) goalie, which they don’t have room for is worth signing.
Stolarz signed a comfortable contract and is a very good goalie.
“ So what do you think, Leafs fans?” I think, and proof is in his article(s), Cox was and will always be an idiot with a big mouth. I wish there was sense is comparing apples to wood and make those comparisons outside reality. Bravo idiot.
As for the signing it’s risky but still a great deal and well below anything experts were predicting. Great job by Tre.
George, regarding your questions on kampf yesterday, he’s a guy you play to kill all offense unfortunately that also means for your team. He’s perfect low event hockey, wining faceoffs and basically defense-only center who has size but doesn’t use it to put guys through the boards and rarely gets caught out of play. At $2.4M is too much for what he brings. If he can at least score at a 30-35pt pace he’ll be more than worth the cap hit.