Since his return, Woll has allowed 4 goals against in 2 out of his 3 starts, both against the Boston Bruins, which has sparked some concern over whether or not he was even at 100%. Woll has been practicing with the team and has backed up Ilya Samsonov on a number of occasions of late. However, after many had assumed that Woll would draw in tonight, Sheldon Keefe had announced after the morning skate that Samsonov would get the nod yet again.
The thought process was initially that Woll would back up Samsonov as he has in recent weeks. However, when pre-game warm-ups took place in Philly, Woll was nowhere to be seen. Martin Jones dressed as Samsonov's backup in Woll's place.
If Woll suffered a setback this close to the playoffs, that could be disastrous for the Leafs. Woll's history is riddled with injury issues. Goaltenders can struggle to stay healthy at times, simply because the position is very taxing on the body. However, for Woll, he has missed a significant amount of time in his young career - far more than one might expect - so if he did indeed suffer another injury, certainly be less than ideal both for his development and for the Leafs, who were likely going to rely a lot on him down the stretch.
POLL | ||
19 MARS | 621 ANSWERS Late roster change triggers some panic in Toronto If Joseph Woll misses more time, how comfortable are you with Martin Jones as a backup? | ||
Not confident at all | 102 | 16.4 % |
Pretty confident, he played well this year | 405 | 65.2 % |
I'm not sure I'd worry unless Sammy got hurt too | 114 | 18.4 % |
List of polls |