Woll stopped 36 of 37 shots for the Marlies in his conditioning stint. When he returns, the Leafs will have to face a decision about Martin Jones.
Woll stopped 36 of 37 shots for the Marlies in his conditioning stint. When he returns, the Leafs will have to face a decision about Martin Jones.
Joseph Woll has returned to the Toronto Maple Leafs after a one-game conditioning stint with the Toronto Marlies.
Woll made his first professional start in just under three months, making 36 saves on 37 shots in a Toronto Marlies victory against the Laval Rocket.
Woll returned to action from a high-ankle sprain on Dec. 7 against the Ottawa Senators. The Leafs could ultimately decide to get the goaltender into some more games but at some point the goalie's return to the Maple Leafs. When that happens, the Leafs will have to figure out what they do when it comes to roster construction.
Typically, once Woll would return, Martin Jones, the team's third goaltender would go on waivers before being sent down to the Toronto Marlies. Can the Leafs afford to run the risk of making him available to another team for 24 hours?
Signed to a one-year, $875,000, Jones has provided serviceable goaltending as a time when they needed him. With Woll out and Samsonov struggling for a couple of months before the calendar flipped from 2023 to 2024, Jones posted an 11-7-1 record with a .907 save percentage.
While he started red hot, Jones has not set the world on fire with his recent play. Over his last five appearances, the 34-year-old has a save percentage of 0.856. That might be enough to deter teams that don't need goaltending help. But the reality is a lot of teams could use another goaltending option and it doesn't seem like something the Leafs want to risk.
It's why they tacked on a $100,000 signing bonus that kicked in in October to Jones's deal to put off other teams from claiming him the first time around.
Could the Leafs carry three goaltenders on their roster?
Right now the Maple Leafs could do it. According to Puckpedia.com, the Leafs have just under approximately $2.9 million available while carrying 22 players.
When Woll is activated, his $766,667 would be fairly easy to accommodate. Of course, there is still the issue of finding space for players like Calle Jarnkrok ($2.1 million AAV). But that could be helped by the fact that Conor Timmins ($1.1 million AAV) is on IR and not LTIR yet.
But as players get healthy, it's going to be tricky for the Leafs to carry a full roster and have space for a third goaltender.
That's where waiting until trade deadline day (Mar. 8) may help. The 23-player roster limitation is lifted at that time and it will just be a matter of having enough cap room as opposed to roster room for Jones. If the Leafs want to add a right defenseman and/or another depth defenseman, they may need to wait until the final day to make all the pieces work for the optimal scenario here.
Is it worth it for the Leafs to go through all this just to keep their third goaltender around? Given how apprehensive the Leafs appeared to be about starting goaltending prospect Dennis Hildeby in January, that seems to be the case.
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