Maple Leafs Were Forced to Place Joseph Woll on IR: Here's Why They Had No Other Choice

PUBLICATION

Tyler Ball
October 11, 2024 (7:51 PM)

SHARE THIS STORY

This evening a report from Elliotte Friedman revealed the reason that the Toronto Maple Leafs felt forced to place goaltender Joseph Woll on injured reserve.

The Toronto Maple Leafs season began earlier this week with disappointment. Star goaltender Joseph Woll who was supposed to be the team's starter popped up with an unexpected injury. Hours later the Toronto Maple Leafs decided to put Woll on injured reserve.

Since then there has not been much of an update on Joseph Woll's condition. By being placed on injured reserved Woll will be required to be out for at least 7 days from the time he was put on the list. After a couple of games without Joseph Woll NHL insider Elliotte Friedman has finally been able to provide an update on why Joseph Woll was placed on injured reserve and when we could see him return.

Elliotte Friedman confirms why the Maple Leafs were forced to put Joseph Woll on injured reserve

During his latest 32 Thoughts Podcast Elliotte Friedman spoke about the Toronto Maple Leafs goaltending situation. He confirmed that Joseph Woll was struggling with a lingering injury throughout training camp. The Maple Leafs felt if they let him try and play through it he would end up out long-term. Instead, the Maple Leafs decided to play it safe and hold Joseph Woll out while he fully gets back to 100%. Elliotte Friedman believes that there is still belief in Joseph Woll going forward despite the injury.

Some of the talk in Toronto was �How are these guys going to trust them? They're going to lose faith, how can they believe in them?'» Friedman said. «When things like that get said, what I wonder about is, is it opinion or is someone telling people this? Opinions are fine, everybody's entitled to them. But I think there's a difference between that's what people are saying and that's what is being told them. Right now I can't tell, to be perfectly honest, if there's any team-wide disappointment at it, but they were definitely hoping that it wouldn't be the case right now and they have no choice but to bubble wrap him.

Elliotte Friedman would continue to talk about Joseph Woll. He began to discuss the possibility of the Maple Leafs starting to reign in Joseph Woll and limiting his practice time throughout the season.

In this day and age, I think you're seeing a lot of more teams starting to say that �You can't do this anymore, that there has to be more rest,' he said. For Woll, I think they're going to say �No more practicing as much as you do.' Each team gets four days off a month, which is CBA-mandated, but I wonder if you're gonna see it even more. I do believe that that's one of the things they're discussing.

Woll of course dealt with an injury during the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Boston Bruins. Now the Toronto Maple Leafs will continue ahead with Anthony Stolarz and Dennis Hildeby while Joseph Woll remains out of the lineup.