Adam Proteau reacts to Joseph Woll rejoining the Maple Leafs for team activities and on-ice participation.
As the Toronto Maple Leafs try to rise through the ranks of the ultra-competitive Atlantic Division, they got a boost Friday with the return of goaltender Joseph Woll.
The Leafs announced that Woll will rejoin the team and resume activities and on-ice participation as part of the return-to-play process following a four-week absence to tend to a personal matter.
On Thursday, the Maple Leafs put Woll on long-term injured reserve in a salary-cap move, according to PuckPedia.
The LTIR move will delay Woll’s actual return to regular-season action to at least Nov. 1, so he’s got time to acclimate himself to the lineup. And although it could lead to losing another goalie in the process, Woll's return will be timely.
The Maple Leafs are a bit injury-ravaged of late, as they’ll be without veteran defensemen Morgan Rielly and Chris Tanev for at least Friday’s tilt against the Buffalo Sabres. Rielly may be back in action when Woll returns, but Tanev could be a different story, which means whenever Woll does play, he’ll be playing behind a Leafs defense corps that isn’t at full strength.
That said, we know Tanev and Rielly will be back sooner rather than later. We’re not sure you can say the same about the Leafs player directly impacted by Woll’s return: current backup netminder, Cayden Primeau.
As a waiver-wire pickup, Primeau has a 4.00 goals-against average and .867 save percentage heading into Friday's game. Those are hardly numbers that will convince the Leafs to try to run a three-goalie rotation when Woll returns.
The Leafs' 1A option, veteran Anthony Stolarz, appeared in six games ahead of Friday, posting a 3.01 GAA and .894 SP. The Leafs haven’t been great in their own zone, so neither Stolarz nor Primeau had the type of defensive help all top teams need. But Primeau is no doubt expendable now that Woll is a week away from a return.
With that in mind, we expect Primeau to go on waivers again – and there’s a distinct possibility another team claims him. There’s almost always a team dealing with a goaltending emergency of one form or another, and those are the circumstances that delivered Primeau to the Maple Leafs.
That’s all relatively minor news compared to Woll’s return.
We don’t know why Woll needed a leave of absence from the team, and given the personal nature of the matter, we probably won’t ever know. And that’s fine. So long as Woll is in a good place as a competitor and a human being right now, that’s really all we need to know, and we must respect his privacy.
In the macro picture, with Woll back and ready to go, Berube doesn’t have to lean on Stolarz nearly so heavily.
With a Stolarz/Woll tandem about to spring into action, Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube will once again create a competitive working environment for both players, giving Toronto a strong one-two punch between the pipes. With the netminders spitting the starts last year, Stolarz had a 2.14 GAA and .926 SP, while Woll had a 2.73 GAA and .909 SP.
And if Primeau does clear waivers and gets sent to the Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate, they will have some solid netminding insurance the rest of the way.
The Maple Leafs benefited greatly from Woll and Stolarz’s collective work last season, and if Toronto is going to get out of its current funk, it’s going to need both of them to step up in the same way.
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