It was announced today that Joseph Woll is week-to-week:
This is obviously disappointing news, as it appears the Woll was just starting to hit his stride. He had started the previous 5 games, where he allowed 11 goals, sported a 0.928SV% and stole a win from Florida, stopping 38 of 39 shots in that game. What’s also disappointing is that Woll hasn’t managed to play in more than 33 games in a single season since he turned pro in 2019-20, and it has mostly been due to injury. Staying healthy in the NHL isn’t always easy, but it’s clear that he has to change something in order to play more games if he is going to be an NHL starter.
For the time being the Leafs will run with Ilya Samsonov and Martin Jones. Both should get an opportunity to prove that they deserve another shot at being a starting goaltender, whether that is with the Maple Leafs or elsewhere, so I’m sure they’re eager to get started with this opportunity.
As we all know, John Klingberg was placed on LTIR and is expected to miss the rest of the 2023-24 NHL season:
While I’m not disappointed to see the team get away from the player, it’s hard not to feel bad for Klingberg the person. He wasn’t a fit in Toronto, but that doesn’t mean you want to see anybody lose a season to injury.
Timothy Liljegren is inching his way back to returning and Mark Giordano is still out with a broken finger, which has left the team extremely thin on the back end. They went into the season with a poor blueline, so to say that these injuries haven’t helped is an understatement. While William Lagesson and Simon Benoit have done a very good job at filling in, the rash of injuries have heightened speculation around possible trade additions.
While the Philadelphia Flyers are sitting in a playoff spot at the moment, they have a lower point percentage than a couple of teams behind them in their division. On top of this, many are wondering what could happen with a club like the New Jersey Devils, who are stacked with talent but haven’t put it all together yet this season. If they start stringing wins together and everything else stays status quo, the Flyers could find themselves out of the playoff picture fairly quickly. This is where rumours of the Leafs’ interest in Rasmus Ristolainen are likely coming from. I spoke about Ristolainen in my previous article, with the bottom line being that his contract is too rich to take a risk on. He’s not playing a ton of minutes right now either, so looking toward him as a big addition is likely unwise. Sean Walker is still the prize to be won if you’re dealing with the Flyers, but with just 1 goal and no assists over his past 8 games, he has cooled off lately to nobody’s surprise.
Another name to keep an eye on that nobody has spoken about is the Seattle Kraken’s Justin Schultz. I’m not saying that I’d be particularly thrilled about the addition of a player like Schultz, but now that Klingberg is done for the year they may want to add a defender that can quarterback the 2nd powerplay unit and that is Schultz’s game. With the Kraken well out of a playoff spot and Schultz being a pending UFA, it would make sense for them to try to find him a new home at some point this season. My hope would be that they can wrestle one (or both) of Adam Larsson or Jamie Oleksiak out of Seattle at the same time.
Your starter this evening will be Ilya Samsonov:
And the rest of the lineup:
Enjoy the game.