The Maple Leafs are getting their goalie back.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have won four of their first seven games without their starting goalie. Now, Joseph Woll is returning from his lower-body injury for the Maple Leafs' matchup with the St. Louis Blues. Darren Dreger of TSN reported that there is a “decent chance” he will make his debut on Thursday.
“There’s a decent chance Joseph Woll returns and starts for the Leafs tonight as Toronto hosts the Blues on TSN. Craig Berube faces his former club for the first time,” Dreger posted on social media.
Chris Johnston from TSN later confirmed the news. “The Leafs have activated Joseph Woll from injured reserve and assigned Dennis Hildeby to the AHL Marlies.”
Alex Stolarz and Dennis Hildeby have been solid in the first seven games of the season. Stolarz has started five of the games with a fantastic 1.83 goals-against average. The 23-year-old Hildeby has made the first two starts of his career and posted a 4.03 goals-against average including a loss to the Blue Jackets.
Woll won the starting job over Ilya Samsonov last season and maintained it through the off-season. The Maple Leafs let Samsonov walk to the Vegas Golden Knights in the summer and are rolling with Woll. They have massive expectations, as always, and they rest almost solely on Woll. How will this season play out for the young goalie and the Maple Leafs?
Maple Leafs' big expectations rest on Joseph Woll's shoulders
The Atlantic Division houses the last six Eastern Conference Champions in the Panthers, Lightning, and Bruins. While the Maple Leafs have been in the playoffs each of those seasons, they have only won one playoff series. They have switched goalies many times, dating back to the Fredrick Anderson days. Now, a young Woll takes the cage.
Woll played 25 games as a 25-year-old last season and posted a 2.94 goals-against average. He was on the fourth-team All-Rookie squad and could see an improvement this season with a bigger workload. While the Maple Leafs are built around their star forwards, the goalie is still the most important position.
Around the division, there are fantastic goaltenders. Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy will be a Hall-of-Famer, Jeremy Swayman just signed a massive extension with the Bruins, and Sergei Bobrovsky is the highest-paid goalie in the league. Even the teams who are not in the playoff discussion have solid goaltending. Woll must live up to that billing for the Leafs to finally win the Stanley Cup.
