Joseph Woll has become a vital safety net for Maple Leafs

It’s a delight watching a Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender smiling ear to ear, basking in the newfound spotlight, his innocence not yet lost playing in the ultimate pressure cooker of hockey markets.

That was Joseph Woll, 24, giving happy-go-lucky self deprecation reminiscent of early Jack Campbell after the Leafs’ 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday night. Woll wasn’t too interested in taking credit for his sizzling 4-0-1 record and .932 save percentage so far this season. He pointed out that rookie Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves was far busier on Tuesday. And Woll had the most fun talking about his biggest gaffe of the game, an awkward tumble leading to Columbus’ first goal.

“I wish I could blame it on the skates or something, but I just fell,” he said with a hearty laugh. “Caught a rut or something, tried to make a save, didn’t work.”

With all goaltenders, but especially Toronto ones, you never know when the twinkly smile might fade away. With great performances eventually comes elevated expectations and, pressure to succeed in a more prominent role. So we have no idea how long Woll, long the Leafs’ No. 1 goaltending prospect, can keep these vibes going. But he certainly seems to have the right tools to do so, and he’s showing them off at a time when his team badly needs him.

Growing up, Woll had the profile and progression you want from a young goaltender pretty much from the start. The Leafs liked his raw athleticism and rangy 6-foot-4 frame when they chose him in the third round of the 2016 NHL Draft. He was a standout at Boston College and regular invitee to the U.S. World Junior squad. But the road was bumpy in the first few seasons after he turned pro. 

He played on some middling Toronto Marlies squads as the Leafs began graduating more and more prospects to the NHL level. He saw his 2019-20 AHL season halted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020-21 season reduced to a glorified exhibition circuit. Last season, while seeing spot NHL duty and looking competent were positives, his campaign ended in March with a major shoulder injury that required eight months of recovery. Also suffering an ankle injury during the rehab period, Woll didn’t play a pro hockey game between March and November of 2022.

All in all Woll appeared in just 62 pro hockey games in a three-season stretch, during which he fought to keep his save percentage north of .900. Forget any talk of struggling: the problem was more that Woll couldn’t get any momentum and build a sample size. It was difficult to know who he was going to be as a goaltender and it appeared Erik Kallgren had passed him for No. 3 on Toronto’s net-minding depth chart.

But then came an incredible 11-game winning streak to start Woll’s 2022-23 AHL season. The big netminder suddenly started looking like the Hobey Baker Award nominee that scouts liked a few years back. Aside from being healthy enough to find a rhythm, what has changed for him?

“Having a bit longer of an offseason, I got to really focus on some technical parts of the game,” he told reporters Tuesday. “And I changed some stuff mentally for myself. I feel really good in the net and comfortable where I’m playing.”

What Woll is hinting at with the mental stuff: meditation has become a large part of his off-ice life, and he said earlier this season that it was crucial to getting him through the anguish of a long injury recovery. He also got rid of his social media accounts to limit his distractions. That led to the meme-worthy moment of him not even knowing Toronto acquired Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues and getting a huge surprise when he saw their names on the dressing room whiteboard at Scotiabank Arena before they debuted.

The noise-cancelling mantra has worked for Woll, and the timing couldn’t be better. While Ilya Samsonov has exceeded all expectations as a reclamation project and established himself as an above-average No. 1 netminder this season, the Matt Murray experience has had all the injury potholes one could expect and more. It almost reached self-parody levels when a fluke collision with the Detroit Red Wings’ Lucas Raymond on Sunday knocked Murray out with his third different injury of the season. There was the adductor in October, the ankle in February and now, a head injury.

Is it possible Murray recovers in time for No. 2 duty when the Stanley Cup playoffs commence in less than two weeks? Sure. But there’s no guarantee he won’t have a setback or another injury between now and then. The No. 3 goaltender job is an important one for the Leafs, not just because Murray can’t be relied upon to stay healthy, but because Samsonov is relatively untested in playoff duty, starting seven games over the past two years while platooning with Vitek Vanecek. Samsonov has never been a true bellcow in the postseason, and it remains to be seen how he’ll hold up to that type of workload.

Enter Woll, who is fresh, confident and playing the best hockey of his pro career. It’s possible Murray returns without a hitch and Woll is back with the Marlies before long. But it doesn’t feel like a stretch to picture Woll stepping into a vital role just like Murray did as a rookie for the injury-riddled Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2016 playoffs.

The Leafs are aware of Woll’s importance and confident they can rely on him. They’re obviously not going to say anything bad about their goalie, but they don’t limit their syllables when asked about him, either.

Coach Sheldon Keefe praised Woll’s dedication and said goaltending coach Curtis Sanford loves working with him. “There’s a lot there,” as Keefe put it. The team’s enthusiasm over Woll is palpable. None more than Zach Aston-Reese’s. He just couldn’t help himself, stifling a laugh, ending a scrum Tuesday with this...

“He’s been a brick wall for us. You know?”

Hey: he’s not wrong so far.