Toronto Maple Leafs: Should They Trade Joseph Woll?

The Toronto Maple Leafs enter the offseason with a feeling all too familiar to this fanbase: How do we keep losing like this? While much attention will be paid to the Core Four, especially with Mitch Marner and John Tavares entering free agency, the goaltending situation presents one of the most intriguing and high-stakes dilemmas.

Specifically, the future of Joseph Woll, the young netminder who has consistently impressed when healthy, now hangs in the balance. With a valuable, cost-controlled contract and flashes of brilliance, Woll represents both a significant asset and a tempting trade chip. The question for General Manager Brad Treliving isn’t simple: Is Joseph Woll more valuable as the Leafs’ future in net, or as the currency to acquire immediate help elsewhere?

A chance to take advantage of a homegrown asset

Woll is only 26, homegrown, and just signed a three‑year, $11M deal with a cap hit of $3.667 M. With the largest workload of his career, he put together 27 wins in 42 with a .909 save percentage and 2.73 goals against average. His value is high, especially after showing up in the playoffs multiple times. That makes him an enticing trade piece to help tweak the roster—particularly if the Leafs lose their core forwards in free agency they could add a puck moving defenceman or forward depth. 

Both Woll and Anthony Stolarz put together a star tandem that many teams would love to have. With this in mind, keeping both netminders seems like a no-brainer. Trading Woll wouldn’t crater the team but rather move cap space and assets to where depth is lacking.

The Case For Trading Joseph Woll

The primary argument for moving Joseph Woll revolves around taking advantage of his peak value to address other roster needs.. After a stellar regular season and a strong playoff showing, Woll’s stock has never been higher. He proved he could handle the pressure of high-stakes Stanley Cup Playoffs hockey, outdueling veterans and making his case to be a true starting goalie.

This high-level performance, combined with his minimal $3.67M cap hit for two more seasons, makes him incredibly appealing to any team looking for an affordable, young, blooming star goalie.

A trade involving Woll could fetch a significant return. The Leafs’ most obvious needs are offensive depth and a true top-four defenceman, particularly one with puck-moving capabilities and the ability to join the rush. Another area of focus might be a reliable, gritty forward who shows up in big games and can contribute secondary scoring, providing the team with a clutch factor. Acquiring these pieces would be significantly easier and give the Leafs more cap flexibility, given that Woll is on the table.

His injury history doesn’t help

Furthermore, Woll’s history of injury is a cause for concern. Since turning pro, he has battled multiple significant injuries, including a high ankle sprain, a shoulder injury, and a prolonged absence due to another ankle sprain.

While he has returned looking good each time, the recurring issue raises questions about his reliability over a full 82-game season and a deep playoff run. The Leafs need to figure out if they can trust him to be a true number one. If not, then having his value tied up in a position where they might constantly need a backup plan could be inefficient. Trading him now would be selling high before another injury lowers his value.

The Leafs’ goalie situation

Finally, the Leafs do have other goaltending prospects in the pipeline like Dennis Hildeby, who has shown promise in the AHL, and Artur Akhtyamov on the come-up. While they might not be ready for the NHL just yet, a trade could signify a willingness to bring them up early and speed up their development, perhaps bringing in another veteran on a cheaper contract, while giving their deeper prospect pool time to develop.

Despite the strong arguments for a trade, the case for keeping Joseph Woll is just as, if not more, compelling. At the forefront is his incredible value-to-cost ratio. A just under $4M cap hit for two more seasons for a goalie who has shown elite flashes is a great value as the cap continues to go up. For a cap-strapped team like the  Leafs, who are constantly navigating the complexity of maintaining this roster around their Core Four salaries, keeping Woll offers unparalleled financial flexibility.

Losing him would break apart a rare tandem with two star goalies, finding a worthy replacement would likely come at a higher price, eliminating the very cap space he frees up.