Joseph Woll admits that he performed below his standards in 2025-26

Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll had a bit of an off year after a relatively strong 2024-25 season between the pipes. In 39 games, Woll put together a record of 15-16-7 with a goals-against average (GAA) of 3.31 and a save percentage (SV%) of .899. This is fact, but lacks context. The Maple Leafs as a whole were awful in 2025-26, and while the underperformance of Woll and Anthony Stolarz contributed to that, finishing last place in shots-allowed per game doesn’t help their case at all.

Still, Woll held himself accountable in the Maple Leafs’ end-of-season interviews on Thursday. He admitted that he felt that he underperformed relative to what he expects from himself and said it lined up with the area the team as a whole struggled in.

“Similar to the team’s, maybe,” Woll told reporters when asked how he felt about his performance this season. “I think it was a bit of up and down, I felt like I had some stretches where I was feeling good about my game, and some stretches where things weren’t necessarily going my way. At the end of the day, I felt, if I look at the season as a whole, I feel like maybe I’ve had some stuff left on the table.”

Woll has always been a very relaxed goaltender. He doesn’t let himself get too high or too low and moves on from mishaps quickly. But he displayed vulnerability in admitting that his performance wasn’t good enough given where his standards are set.

“I know what I’m capable of, what I’ve shown here before, and I don’t think I properly lived up to what I’m capable of.”

While the 27-year-old Missouri native isn’t the type to let these types of defeats eat away at him, he acknowledged that missing the playoffs for the first time in his career was a different type of pain compared to the usual playoff defeat.

“I think the thing I’ve really been leaning into is how brutal this feels,” Woll said. “It felt pretty crappy getting knocked out in Game 7 last year, and this is a whole different animal. It’s like a slow burn…as opposed to being abrupt, and I imagine I speak for the team, but I don’t want this to happen again. I want to do everything in my power to make that a reality.”

The Maple Leafs will enter the biggest offseason since before drafting Auston Matthews effective immediately. Whoever takes over the front office will have the task of a lifetime, and the spotlight is shining brighter than ever.