The Maple Leafs announced Friday that goaltender Joseph Woll will begin the return-to-play process after missing more than a month while on personal leave. He was retroactively placed on long-term injured reserve yesterday and will remain there until the club’s doctors clear him to return to game action.
Woll took an indefinite leave of absence to deal with a family matter less than a week into training camp. He never entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program during his absence, so his return can be managed entirely at the team’s discretion. The team clarified at the time that Woll’s absence was not substance-abuse related but did not issue any further comment.
Having Woll’s return on the horizon is a welcome sight. The Maple Leafs haven’t gotten great performances out of starter Anthony Stolarz or waiver claim Cayden Primeau in his absence. Stolarz has seemingly struggled with a higher-than-normal workload, starting six of seven with a 2-3-1 record, .894 SV%, and 3.01 GAA. Those below-average numbers translate to a similarly unimpressive -1.6 goals saved above expected figure, per MoneyPuck. That’s still not as subpar as the -1.7 GSAx that Primeau put up in his lone appearance, a 7-4 win over the Predators on Oct. 14 that saw him allow four goals on 30 shots.
Meanwhile, the 27-year-old Woll has yet to have a below-average showing in any of his four NHL seasons. He was especially excellent last year, starting a career-high 41 games with a 27-14-1 record, .909 SV%, 2.73 GAA, and 16.8 GSAx. He was 11th in the league in that latter stat, proving his three-year, $11MM extension he signed in 2024 to be one of the better-value deals among goaltenders.
Getting that type of play out of Woll in his return would help buoy a Maple Leafs club that’s struggled on both sides of the puck to begin 2025-26. The team ranks in the bottom half of the league in both shots for and shots against per game, although above-average finishing still has them scoring 3.43 goals per game for 10th in the NHL.
stolarz back to looking like the goalie who played 109 games over eight seasons before joining the leafs