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Toronto Maple Leafs Season MVP Goes Down With Injury

By Mitchell Hartman

Nov 6, 2023; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll (60) gets ready to go in for goaltender Ilya Samsonov (35) during a goaltending change part way through the first period against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 6, 2023; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll (60) gets ready to go in for goaltender Ilya Samsonov (35) during a goaltending change part way through the first period against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs season MVP has just gone down with an injury.

No, I don’t mean Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, or William Nylander, I mean Toronto Maple Leafs rookie goalie Joseph Woll. 

After channeling his inner Dominik Hasek for most of the game, Woll suffered a some kind of leg injury in the third period, forcing Martin Jones to finish the job, which he did.

At the time of writing this, there is no set timeline for Woll’s return, but it looks like he’ll be out for a couple of weeks at the very minimum.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a very inconsistent season so far, but they’re sitting in a pretty solid spot in the standings, much thanks to Woll cleaning up their numerous defensive mistakes.

Unless they can clean up their act, this could be a rough couple of weeks without their rookie netminder.

Toronto Maple Leafs MVP Goes Down With Injury

As mentioned before, Joseph Woll has been the Leafs MVP to start the season.

Auston Matthews does have a strong amount of goals this season, but he has been far too streaky to be the Leafs best player, and often does not show up to play.

Mitch Marner has picked up his play as of late (5 points in his last 3 games), but again like Matthews, Marner has been far too inconsistent this year. And, even William Nylander, who’s scoring pace has slowed considerably since his lengthy point streak to start the season (he did score last game, however).

Woll has shown up to play more than any Leafs player this year, and it’s not even close. Last game vs Ottawa is a perfect example. The Leafs were sloppy, slow, and gave up way too many grade-A chances. Woll stopped 29/31 shots before his injury, and without his strong play, the Leafs lose, guaranteed.

Now to be fair, Woll is not perfect, and he has had a few shaky games this season.

But no goalie is ever perfect, and with the Leafs defensive play this season, can you even blame Woll for having a few rough games?

The last few Stanley Cup winners have won on the back of a hot goaltender (Aiden Hill, Andrei Vasilevski, Jordan Binnington, to name a few) and there’s a strong chance Woll can go on a run like that. Even recent finalists have gotten carried to the finals due to strong goaltending (a la Florida and Montreal, both of whom beat the Leafs).

The Leafs however, need to clean up their game, especially with Woll out for the foreseeable future. 

Who knows, maybe this is finally a wake-up call for the Leafs to start playing better, and maybe this is when they figure it out.

On the flip side, Woll going down could be disastrous, and the Leafs may struggle for the time he is gone.

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Regardless, the season has been fun to watch so far, and the Leafs look to continue to climb the Atlantic Division standings on Saturday when the play vs the Nashville Predators.

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