Former NHL Goalie Sends a Major Show of Faith to Joseph Woll

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Julien Trekker
May 11, 2023 (11:27)

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The Maple Leafs' goaltender situation has been rough all season.

With Matt Murray injured for a good part of the year, Toronto relied on Ilya Samsonov more than it should have.

Joseph Woll also knew how to make the best out of his situation. Even though he spent a lot of time on the bench, he still played seven games and had incredible numbers.

His record of 6-1-0 with a 2.16 GAA and a .932 save percentage has given him some quality NHL experience.

With both Murray and Samsonov injured, Keefe will certainly rely on Woll for the rest of the playoffs, an idea that Mike McKenna agrees with.

Former NHL Goalie Sends a Major Show of Faith to Woll

McKenna played 35 games in the NHL between 2008 and 2019 for seven different teams.

Even though he never could establish himself in the league, he has seen many players succeed and knows how to recognize talent.

He was invited on Sportsnet ahead of game four and had some great words for Woll.

"Here's the deal, honestly I thought Joseph Woll was the best goaltender in the Maple Leafs organization this year, and I'm not sure at the start of the season that's what I believed at all, but by the middle, I was pretty firm in that."

"Now, I think Samsonov had some really nice runs this season, Murray obviously up and down, I thought his game was good to start but cratered towards the middle part of the season, and then he got hurt all the time, but Woll's consistency and the arc of his career have led to this point, and I did want to see him play games down the stretch for this exact reason."

"You look at what he did during the regular season with a .932 SV%, he won 6 games, he did everything he could've shown between the American League and the NHL to be ready for this moment."

This is encouraging for Leafs fans. Woll played yesterday as if he was waiting for this moment to happen. He was ready, and he was good. Without him, the Leafs would probably be eliminated from the playoffs.

We'll clearly see more of Woll in the coming game(s).

Do you trust Woll to save the Leafs from elimination?

As seen on Maple Leafs Daily -
Former NHL goaltender issues a bold statement about Leafs netminder Joseph Woll