TORONTO (Mar. 7) — If Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo are the final marble slabs of the Maple Leafs, Michaelangelo could have stopped at David’s waist. The part everyone stares at in Florence would be missing.

Not that Brad Treliving’s “package” deals for the Philadelphia centerman and the Boston defender will hurt the Leafs. Even if tradition continued and two more first–round draft picks flew out the window. It’s just that the Leafs were never “Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo removed” from winning the Stanley Cup. They are solid, depth additions that still cannot shroud the continuous, glaring lack of an elite, No. 1 defenseman. Nor can they turn Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander into springtime terrors. We are also assured, now, that Marner will either re–sign with the Leafs or walk for nothing in July as an unrestricted free agent. At no point, evidently, did the Leafs present Marvelous Mitch a trade proposal that would coerce him into waiving his ironclad contract clause. So, while everything was “on the table” (sigh) after the opening–round exit to Boston last May, the Maple Leafs will enter the 2025 playoffs continuing to rely on those that have never elevated performance when it matters.

There’s still not a Dave Keon, Darryl Sittler, Borje Salming or Doug Gilmour among them. All these years later.

And, before we go farther, pause and comprehend that the Florida Panthers — the defending National Hockey League champion — should receive a couple of healthy additions before the Cup tournament begins: Matthew Tkachuk and Brad Marchand. Good Gawd! The Bruins actually traded Marchand (who needed to grant permission)… and to arguably the worst place on the NHL map as it relates to the Leafs. Toronto was in the mix for The Pest; that I can assure you. And got snookered, again, by a Division foe. So, it’s fair to say the Leafs did not improve as much as the Panthers… or, arguably, the Lightning. Both of which Toronto will need to eclipse in order to reside atop the hellish Atlantic. One of which must finish third for Toronto to earn home–ice advantage in the opening playoff round. At the moment, the Leafs are two points back of Florida and one point ahead of hard–charging Tampa (11–1–0 in the past 12). If, as I’ve previously written, the differential between goals scored and goals allowed remains a pivotal stat (Glen Sather always boasted about this with Wayne Gretzky and his great Edmonton teams of the 1980’s), the Leafs are in trouble at plus–18. The Lightning is plus–58; the Panthers, plus–37. Yikes!

But, there’s an outlier: Until the playoffs start, we won’t know whether Treliving, last July 3, made the best move of the entire NHL season; today’s deadline flury included. For, it’s quite simple: If Anthony Stolarz can perform, in the spring, at anywhere close to the level he’s displayed this winter, all bets are off. Treliving grabbed Stolarz from Florida as an unrestricted free agent for two years and $5 million. To this juncture of the season, no GM spent better money last summer. Not since Ed Belfour outshone Patrick Lalime and the Ottawa Sentaors in the opening round of 2004 has a Toronto netminder “stolen” a playoff series. Two freakin’ decades ago. But, Stolarz is a potential wild card that no observer can overlook. He’s a physical monster (6–foot–6, 243 pounds) between the pipes that the Leafs have never possessed. And, his numbers in Year 1 with the club are splendid: 13 wins in 23 starts with a 2.21 goals–against average and .925 save percentage. In the latter category, only Connor Hellebuyck (.926) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (.921) — the two best goalies in the world — reside near Stolarz, who has been, by many lengths, Toronto’s most–valuable performer in 2024–25. If that continues into the Stanley Cup hunt, the Leafs will stay in a playoff series with any opponent. In the spring, goaltending is the great equalizer. Forever has been; always will be. So, there’s no telling how much of a threat the Maple Leafs can become with such leverage.

The flip side, of course, is that Anthony’s next playoff start will be his first. He has all of 34 minutes and 50 seconds of Stanley Cup experience, subbing for Sergei Bobrovsky on one occasion during Florida’s championship gallop last year. Can he thrive in the mentality of a No. 1 stopper… on a team whose big gunners normally shoot blanks after mid–April? Can the Leafs progress through the Cup hunt with a goaltending tandem — Joseph Woll sharing chores with Stolarz? No person, right now, can answer these questions. But, the possibilities are alluring for the Leafs. Particularly in a winner–take–all Game 7, which the team has routinely flubbed in the Core–4 era.

Give Treliving credit for somehow staying in the Mikko Rantanen pursuit, before losing out to Dallas. The Leafs, I am told, made a “very attractive offer” for the Finnish forward. Even if Rantanen isn’t the player the club actually needs. Carlo provides a big presence (6–foot–5, 220 pounds) on the blue line, while completely devoid of offensive flair. Neither is he particularly nasty for his size. But, he’s a good technician in the defensive zone… and, at minimum, will not contribute to a Leafs’ playoff elimination for the fourth time (Boston, with Carlo, triumphed in 2018, 2019 and 2024). Still, the Leafs emerged from another trade deadline without a wheelhorse on the back end — almost always an essential Stanley Cup component. Carlo, Morgan Rielly, Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe is far from the worst top four in the league. But, there isn’t a traditional or standout No. 1 (can you imagine the Leafs with Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes or Zach Werenski?). Rielly is carrening through the most–troubling season of his 12 years in Toronto. Defensively, he’s been lost from the outset; neither has he compensated with scoring numbers. Again, this is where Stolarz enters the picture. Can the mammoth goalie compensate for the lack of such a critical playoff component? No stopper has proven capable, arguably, since Felix Potvin in 1993 and 1994, when Toronto twice made it to the Conference final with a pedestrian blue line (Dave Ellett, Bob Rouse, Jamie Macoun, Sylvain Lefebvre, Todd Gill, Dimitri Mironov). Of course, without Gilmour’s unparalleled magic, neither challenge would have occurred. He remains the last Maple Leaf to carry the club through a trio of playoff rounds.

Until Stolarz earns his playoff stripes, we can say, quite confidently, that the Leafs aren’t as solid as Florida, Tampa Bay or Washington in the East; Dallas, Vegas, Colorado, Winnipeg or Edmonton in the West. But, the big netminder bears watching. He could become — as the first example since Gilmour, three decades ago — a difference maker for the Blue and White after mid–April. Otherwise, steel yourself for yet another quick playoff exit.

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