How The Toronto Maple Leafs Can Build Up Sergei Bobrovsky

The Toronto Maple Leafs are trying to pull out of a losing skid and head coach Jim Hiller has turned to Anthony Stolarz on Saturday. Sergei Bobrovsky's woes are obvious, but there's a strategy behind Hiller's decision, and it may be the right one.In the middle of the Toronto Maple Leafs' current skid, one question feels more important than all the others: what's the problem with Sergei Bobrovsky?Considering the 38-year-old has been in net for five of Toronto's past seven losses – surrendering four goals or more in three of those games – it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that coach Jim Hiller chose to keep Bobrovsky on the sidelines for the second straight game. Hiller elected to start Anthony Stolarz for Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers, making it the first time this season that the 32-year-old has started in back-to-back games.Is that because Hiller decided that Stolarz deserved to play a second game against the high-octane Oilers? It could be, especially given that Stolarz's 30-save performance against Edmonton Oct. 24 came in arguably Toronto's best game of the season. Related storiesIt also could simply be because Stolarz has been far better than Bobrovsky this year. In eight appearances, Stolarz has a .900 save percentage, a 2.90 goals against average and a 5-3-0 record.Contrast that with Bobrovsky’s sub-standard .881 SP, 3.47 GAA and 3-8-2 record, and it’s perfectly reasonable that Hiller went with Stolarz for the second straight game against the Oilers.Part of the job of Hiller and GM John Chayka is seeing the big picture, and the Maple Leafs take on the lowly Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets next week. If you want to rebuild Bobrovsky’s confidence, would you put him in against the stellar Oilers, or would you give him starts in two of those next three games?To ask that question is to answer it. For as much as you want to go with the hot hand that is Stolarz, feeding Bobrovsky to Edmonton would almost certainly do more harm than good. A loss in this situation won't stick to Stolarz the way it would to Bobrovsky.When asked about Bobrovsky prior to Saturday's game, Hiller offered a defense of him, saying "he's had some really good games, and he's had some average games, like every player." That’s technically true, but he's also had five games with a SP of .900 or better, and he's allowed at least three goals in 12 of his 13 starts. That's simply not good enough, and Maple Leafs fans know it.So, the next time Bobrovsky does get a start, there's going to be a huge amount of pressure for him to put in an effort that justifies Chayka making a $7 million per season investment in him. Because right now, that commitment feels like a major mistake. Bobrovsky joined the Maple Leafs with outstanding career achievements, but so far, he has been far from outstanding. While Hiller may be trying to shield Bobrovsky from being regarded as the scapegoat for his team's woes, if he doesn’t turn things around, he'll feel Leafs Nation’s wrath for a long time to come.For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free.