Woll ready to return to action: Maple Leafs recall Joseph Woll from his conditioning loan

The Leafs’ starting goalie is closing in on his return to the lineup as he has been called up from his conditioning loan.

Joseph Woll’s conditioning stint lasted one game, in which he picked up the win, stopped 36 of 37 shots, and posted a .970% and a 1.00 GAA. While he did take quite the beating physically as the Rocket crashed the net quite a few times in that game, he hung in there and played well.

Him being back up so soon means the Leafs were impressed with his week of practice along with the start in question, and his return to the crease could be fast approaching. While it remains to be seen when exactly that will be, it is an encouraging sign that the Leafs’ goalies are on the verge of being fully healthy.

It certainly wasn’t easy by any means, but Toronto was able to weather the storm in his absence with the eighth-best record in the league at 20-10-4 since Woll got hurt on December 7th. In that time, Ilya Samsonov went through waivers to build his game back up and has since regained his form while Martin Jones steadied the ship as long as he could before running into fatigue. Because of the amount of depth the Leafs currently possess in the crease and how desperate other teams are for competent goaltending, expect to see them roll with three goalies the rest of the way.

Woll’s return to the NHL was made possible because of yesterday’s roster move that saw Max Lajoie loaned to the Marlies. With Mark Giordano likely nearing a return after having to leave the team last week due to the sudden passing of his father and the probability of Calle Jarnkrok being not far behind, another paper transaction is likely forthcoming in the days ahead. While there are certainly many candidates to make this possible, Noah Gregor appears the most likely to get put on waivers given his struggles and not bringing much to the fold apart from speed.

Woll had started in 14 games and posted a record of 8-5-1, a 2.80 GAA, and a .916 SV% before suffering an ankle injury on December 7th.