Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll has been activated from injured reserve, while Dennis Hildeby has been loaned to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. Woll will make his season debut Thursday against the St. Louis Blues, head coach Craig Berube confirmed Thursday.

After an ill-timed injury near the end of preseason, Woll was forced to miss the first handful of games dealing with lower body tightness, but following a slew of reports that he was ‘close’ and nearly ready to return to action for the Maple Leafs, he’s set to return to the crease for what could be argued as the biggest game of the season so far. The Maple Leafs are coming off a 6-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, a game that raised age-old concerns about failing to show up against weaker teams despite having arguably one of their strongest starts to the season in recent years.

To add a metaphorical cherry on top, the Leafs are hosting the Blues — head coach Craig Berube’s old team. The Blues fired Berube last winter, so a strong bounce-back effort from the Leafs should be expected tonight, and with Woll back between the pipes, there will be a number of storylines to follow for tonight’s game.

Woll started a career-high 25 games last season, piling together a record of 12-11-1 with a 2.94 GAA (goals-against average) and a .907 save percentage (SV%), but really earned the Maple Leafs’ trust with his performance in the playoffs. Although it was a small sample size, he gave the Leafs a sense of stability in the crease that helped them get back into the series by winning Games 5 and 6, but a freak injury in the dying seconds of Game 6 forced the Leafs to pivot back to Ilya Samsonov in net for Game 7, which they went on to lose. His performance was enough to earn him a three-year contract worth $3.66 million annually, a contract that sort of says ‘We like what we’ve seen so far, let’s see what you can do with an opportunity to claim the starter’s job for good’. Obviously, it hasn’t gotten off on the right foot, but with Anthony Stolarz’s strong start to the season, the Leafs have been able to take their time with Woll’s recovery.

Stolarz has been excellent in the early going for the Leafs, with a record of 3-2-0, complemented by a 1.83 GAA and a .938 SV%. He has yet to allow more than two goals in a start so far and has overall taken a lot of stress off of his new team despite them missing their starting goalie to begin the season. If Woll can come back, play at his best, and stay healthy, the Leafs have potential to carry one of the more dangerous tandems in the league.