Joseph Woll Hungry For Larger Role With Maple Leafs
Is Joseph Woll about to steal the starting goalie job in Toronto? Things are certainly trending that way. In the most recent game against Tampa, Ilya Samsonov was pulled after allowing three goals on four shots. Woll came in relief and stopped all 29 shots he faced in the eventual comeback win. The young goalie is hungry for a bigger role moving forward.
“This year, it just feels like all the experiences I’ve had recently have prepared me for this. I feel ready,” Woll said, per Sportsnet’s Luke Fox.
“No, I think it’s perfectly on time,” he said. “I don’t think I was ready to be at this point a year ago, two years ago. Every experience I’ve been afforded has made me ready.”
To date, Woll has 13 games on his resume thus far. It’s a short sample size but the raw numbers are really impressive (10-3 record with a .928 save percentage). That’s not including the playoff run where he looked really comfortable in net. The question now is if Woll can steal the starting gig away from Samsonov.
For what it’s worth, Sheldon Keefe has noticed what’s going on.
“Oh, he’s pushing,” Keefe said of Woll on Saturday. “That’s it. That’s what you want. You want everybody pushing one another. That’s what we got.”
I hope you read my fantasy hockey post on goalie sleepers! You bet your ass that Woll was on the list. We have a long way to go but Woll is certainly worth a look if he’s still available in your league.
For the record, Samsonov was really good last year posting career highs in wins (27), save percentage (.919), shutouts (four), and goals saved above average (17.4). He’s just never played like that prior to last year and was dreadful at the end of his Capitals tenure. It’s going to be very interesting to see how the goalie situation shakes out in Toronto the rest of the year.
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