It is anticipated that Joseph Woll will start in goal tonight against the struggling Arizona Coyotes.
After suffering a high-ankle sprain in Toronto’s 4-3 victory against Ottawa on December 7, the Maple Leafs goalie has not appeared in an NHL game since.
As part of his rehabilitation assignment, he did play one game for the AHL Marlies, stopping 36 of 37 shots in a 4-1 victory at Laval on Friday. Before the injury, Woll had replaced a struggling Ilya Samsonov as the Leafs’ starting goalkeeper in the fall, amassing an 8-5-1 record with a 2.80 goals-against average and a.916 save percentage.
In Woll’s absence, the Leafs mainly depended on veteran Martin Jones as Samsonov attempted to regain his form.
Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Woll set to return from injury against Coyotes https://t.co/QlO03y7F4n
— Toronto Star (@TorontoStar) February 29, 2024
“He looks good, feels good, we’ll give him every minute that we can to get through the day and all that kind of stuff,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said Thursday. “The plan is for him to play and be activated tonight before the game but with any player coming off of the IR, to make sure they’re good.”
Ilya Samsonov will back up Woll, who made 36 saves with Toronto of the American Hockey League in a 4-1 win against Laval in a conditioning stint Feb. 23.
“I do think [trusting everything will be fine] is important especially for the nature of the injury,” Keefe said. “Every injury is different, but there’s some that are a thing. It sits there in your mind especially with his position because he got injured with a certain movement that he has to repeat countless times in a game and that was probably the biggest hurdle for him to get over.”
Woll is 8-5-1 with a 2.80 goals-against average and .916 save percentage in 15 games (13 starts) for the Maple Leafs this season.