It makes sense that on a morning when Nick Barden writes about the successful year that has been for Joseph Woll he immediately gets sent right back down to the AHL . I’ve been telling Kyle Dubas for years he needs to read our blog (he normally at least reads Nick), but I guess he missed today’s article.
Woll being sent down was always going to happen at some point. As much as I’m sure Ilya Samsonov is enjoying time with his family and new baby, sadly returning to work to support the family is part of the gig and back comes to the Leafs, probably not as rested as if it was any other circumstance.
Woll has been a great story for the Leafs (and Marlies) this year and has shown signs of being the next Leafs homegrown goaltending option. After an injury plagued season last year that carried over into the start of this season, there wasn’t much in the way of expectations for Woll other than tandem the Marlies with Erik Kallgren and make his case for an increased workload that would keep him in the mix once Akhtyamov and Hildeby were ready to come over to North America. Instead he’s posted a .930 save percentage in 19 AHL games and a .934 in his four NHL games this season, the best numbers of his career at any level. Woll has a 0.66 Goals saved above expected, and 0.012 save percentage above expected. Small samples, sure, but as Nick said in his article this morning, there is a lot of reason to be hopeful about what he can bring in the future and if needed as a goaltending option in the playoffs for any reason, he’s not someone you’d hate to go to.
The move to send Woll down also frees up a bit more cap space for the Leafs, and with the demotion of either Bobby McMann or Wayne Simmonds (most likely McMann), the Leafs will be able to activate Ryan O’Reilly after the Panthers game, the final one he was required to miss due to his LTIR status. (Of course, that’s dependent on whether he’s actually ready to go.)
Both the Leafs (vs. the Panthers) and the Marlies (vs. the Hershey Bears) play tomorrow night.
More must-reads: