Toronto Maple Leafs: Could Joseph Woll Be the Next Jordan Binnington?

The one defining characteristic of every Toronto Maple Leafs failure over the past seven seasons, other than their star players disappearing when it matters most, is that the opposing team won the goaltender match-up quite handily.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are yet to receive great goaltending in the Auston Matthews Era. 

A Stanley Cup win is always linked to a hot goalie. Think Hall of Famers Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur; and contemporary examples like the Las Vegas Golden Knights’ Adin Hill and St. Louis Blues Jordan Binnington.

A single man, alone in the blue paint, who can cover up deficiencies in the lineup.

One person to thwart the inevitable turnovers in the D-zone by overwhelmed defenders and save the game when the team desperately needs it. There is a long list of tenders who seemingly come out of nowhere to give a team the much-needed mojo to keep it rolling through four rounds of hockey.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Could Joseph Woll Be the Next Jordan Binnington?

Ever since former General Manager John Ferguson, Jr. chose Justin Pogge over Tuuka Rask – a decision only bested by Nick Saban picking Daunte Culpepper over Drew Brees – the Toronto Maple Leafs have searched for a true No. 1 that can carry a team deep into the playoffs.

Yes, former Leaf Frederik Andersen, is coming off a solid run to the Eastern Conference Finals for the Carolina Hurricanes, but he routinely let in the deflating goal that led to another Maple Leafs collapse. Jack Campbell? Let’s not get started on the guy who thankfully left the Leafs for the Edmonton Oilers.

Hall of Fame goalie Ed Belfour was really the last player the Leafs had who the team could count on to ‘steal a game’ in a best of seven series. Belfour last played for Leafs in the 2005/06 season.

Current starter Ilya Samsonov played well enough against the Tampa Bay Lightning this past spring, but he did not dominate. The Lightning looked like a tired team and their superstar in net, Andrei Vasilevskiy, looked pedestrian for the first time in a long stretch of superb hockey.

Any team that wants to make a deep run needs a puck stopper who strikes fear and second guessing into the opposition. Samsonov should be able to build on his strong year with the Leafs and was taken to arbitration, so he still needs to prove himself. He has the potential to go on a heater, but he’s had plenty of time to prove himself and it has not happened, yet.

The smart thinking here is that his ‘backup’, Joseph Woll, might save the Leafs when they need it most. Maybe, just maybe, Woll will go on a run like Binnnington did in the 2018-19 season that ended with a Stanley Cup victory over the Boston Bruins.

The similarities between the two men are quite interesting. Binnington celebrates his birthday on July 11th. Woll? A day later. Both goalies made their National Hockey League debuts in the month of November at the age of 25. Both players spent 11 years in the minors before being elevated to the NHL. They both had .927 save percentages in their final American Hockey League seasons.

There are differences, for sure. The biggest one are the caliber of defenseman playing in front of them. Binnington had the likes of Alex Pietrangelo, Colton Parayko and Jay Bouwmeester making life easier for him.

And Woll? Well, that’s a whole different article, but, although Morgan Rielly is a great player, TJ Brodie, John Klingberg and Jake McCabe don’t seem to scare the opposition nearly as much as that Blues D-line.

The other major discrepancy is demeanor. Binnington is something of a firecracker at times, whereas Woll seems to be extremely poised. When Samsonov got injured in the second round against the Florida Panthers, Woll came in and played admirably given the multiple times he was asked to stop point blank shots.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will again put up gaudy offensive numbers and will easily make the playoffs. They might even win the Atlantic Division. But this upcoming regular season needs to provide the appropriate runway for their goalie tandem to assert themselves.

One of them needs to give the Leafs an edge in the goalie matchup come playoffs. Given his similarities to Binnington, Joseph Woll could very well be the one.