Woll, 25, has managed to play just 39 career regular season NHL games and has appeared in just 7 career playoff games, so when Maple Leafs management inked him to a 3-year contract extension worth $3.66M per season, some were rightfully concerned.
The Dardenne Prairie, MO native has endured a number of injuries in his young csreer, most recently suffering ankle and back injuries during the 2023-24 regular season and playoffs, leading Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving to do a bit of a probe into why these injuries continue to occur to see if there was anything Woll and the team could change in an attempt to keep the young netminder healthy and playing.
The results of the probe have not been publicly shared by Treliving, but according to TSN's Mark Masters, Trelving and the Maple Leafs are confident that Woll is doing everything right and that the injuries were simply attributed to bad luck, more than anything else.
Woll posted a ridiculous 0.86 GAA and a shocking .964 SV% through 3 games against the Boston Bruins in Round 1 of the playoffs this year, which really forced a lot of people to take notice.
His career 2.65 GAA and .915 SV% are not nearly as good as his playoff numbers from this past series against Boston, but are definitely still very respectable numbers. They're numbers that a team can win with, and that's without him elevating his game in the postseason, which he has shown his ability to do.
With the addition of Anthony Stolarz this summer in free agency, the Maple Leafs believe they have a tandem that is capable of stealing a lot of games this year. If Woll can stay healthy, and Stolarz can provide anywhere near the level of play he had shown himself capable of playing at last season in Florida, the Leafs stand a pretty good chance of challenging for the Atlantic Division title this season.
Source: Mark Masters, TSNMasters shares how he thinks the Marner saga will play out with Toronto
POLL | ||
9 JUILLET | 623 ANSWERS The results of a deep dive into Joseph Woll's health concerns have been revealed How many games do you think Joseph Woll will miss due to injury in 2024-25? | ||
Less than 5 games | 116 | 18.6 % |
6-10 games | 222 | 35.6 % |
11-20 games | 202 | 32.4 % |
He'll miss more than 20 games | 83 | 13.3 % |
List of polls |