The Leafs had to free up cap space and the move doesn't affect the goaltender's timeline for a return.
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced on Saturday that they placed forward Connor Dewar on injured reserve while calling up Nikita Grebenkin from the Toronto Marlies.
What they didn't announce, however, is that the club simultaneously placed goaltender Anthony Stolarz on long-term injured reserve, retroactive to Dec. 12.
The Leafs did not have enough money available under the salary cap to simply replace Dewar on the active roster. Moving Stolarz' $2.5 million cap hit allowed the Leafs to have the room to accommodate the move.
Stolarz accompanied the Leafs on their trip to Ottawa to get in some work on the ice and the belief is that the goaltender can return to the lineup sooner rather than later.
According to PuckPedia.com, the Leafs now have $2.04 million remaining in cap space under LTIR.
What happens when the Leafs are ready to activate Stolarz?
Because Stolarz has already missed more than the 10 games and 24 days required under the CBA for LTIR designation, activating him imminently won't be much of an issue. However, the Leafs don't have the cap room under the current conditions. That would be alleviated pretty quickly though as Stolarz would simply replace Matt Murray on the active roster and the net difference in cap charge would be $1.625 million. leaving roughly $405,000 in salary cap space.
Stolarz has posted a 9-5-2 record in 17 games played, with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage this season. He suffered a knee injury on December 12th against the Anaheim Ducks and underwent a procedure to remove a loose body from his knee.
The 30-year-old goalie was given a 4-6 week recovery timeline. He signed a two-year, $5 million contract with the Leafs this summer.
