Joseph Woll has been an excellent goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he's dealt with injury issues. Can he be the No. 1 goalie instead of being part of a two- or three-goalie rotation?
Throughout the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been on a competitive rollercoaster ride, often snatching defeat from the arms of victory while on occasion snatching victory from the arms of defeat.
The latter happened Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena, when the Maple Leafs put in another subpar effort against the Chicago Blackhawks, only to somehow pull out a win with the late-game heroics of Auston Matthews and Dakota Joshua.
However, the more intriguing element of the Leafs' win was the stellar play of goalie Joseph Woll, who stopped 23 of 25 Blackhawks shots in his return to action after spending the previous four games on the sidelines with a lower-body injury.
But while the win-challenged Maple Leafs will gladly welcome his return to action, the conundrum involving Woll is that he clearly has the upside but just can't stay healthy for a whole season. That's what makes it uncertain whether the Leafs can commit to him as a No. 1 goalie instead of running a 1A-1B tandem with either Anthony Stolarz or call-up Dennis Hildeby for the long term.
The 27-year-old's .927 SP and 2.39 goals-against average are very encouraging. But he's only played nine games this season.
Now, he was away for the first month of the season for personal reasons, and that must be respected, so let's set that aside.
Since Nov. 15, when he made his season debut, his nine appearances are tied for the 22nd-most games played by a goaltender in that span.
He also started last season on the injured reserve and missed the team's first seven games due to a lower-body injury. And in 2023-24, when he was breaking out into the NHL, he suffered an ankle injury that kept him out for more than two months.
The Leafs aren't asking him to be the next coming of legendary workhorse Martin Brodeur, but Woll has to continue showing why Toronto should keep relying on him.
How Can The Toronto Maple Leafs Possibly Be Happy With This?
The Toronto Maple Leafs played like they wanted their coach to be fired during 50 minutes of Tuesday's win over Chicago. And they thought they played well. What country club atmosphere is this?
The Maple Leafs have been snakebit by injuries this season, so it's not like Woll was the only injured member of the group. But his 42 games last year were the most he played in a regular season since being in the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, including his years in the AHL and NCAA in between.
The 27-year-old has missed regular-season and Stanley Cup playoff time – including in 2024, when Woll was injured in the dying seconds of a Game 6 win against the Boston Bruins. The Leafs lost Game 7 that year without Woll in net.
So clearly, there are pros and cons to Woll's game.
His salary of $3.66 million for the next three years makes him a bargain at his current metrics, and as the salary cap rises, that cap hit will look even better.
That said, it won't do the Maple Leafs much good if Woll's body keeps betraying him. And let's be clear – we're not here to dump all over Woll for something that's out of his control. There are few things worse in pro sports than when elite athletes can't stay on the playing field. It hurts not just the individuals themselves, but it also affects the sport.
Woll's misfortune is one of the reasons the Leafs are likely to keep a three-man goalie rotation, with (currently injured) veteran Stolarz and 24-year-old Hildeby as the other two members. There's simply too much at stake for Toronto to trade one of them right now.
But with his consistently strong play, Woll is ensuring a place for himself at the table. Everyone in Leafs Land wishes him well because the alternative may negatively shape the Buds' picture in net for many years to come.
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