The Toronto Maple Leafs received some pretty good news this morning when they announced that season MVP (so far) Joseph Woll will be out “week to week” with a high ankle sprain.
That is good news for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans who feared it could be a season ending MCL tear or worse.
The play of Joseph Woll has been the only thing that has kept the Leafs out of the basement.
Without the eight points they have from the four wins he has personally stolen, the Leafs wouldn’t be in 11th overall with a borderline elite (well maybe not this year) .650 points percentage.
They would be in 27th, tied with the Wild and Kraken.
The Leafs have been incredibly lucky to have the record they have right now because their injuries have been severe (though the only impact player who has missed a game so far this year is Timothy Liljegren) and they have a horrendous blue-line, and they aren’t winning games in regulation (only the Kraken have less) and they’ve been involved in several multi-goal comebacks and several blown multi-goal leads.
If management gets its act together, the season – which could easily already be lost – can still be rescued, and the team can regain its status as a Cup Contender, and avoid wasting a year of Auston Matthews’ prime.
Joseph Woll Update, Predators vs Toronto Maple Leafs
The Leafs will once again play with fire, dressing an embarrassing lineup for the fourth straight game.
Failing GM Brad Treliving has had over a week to help his team out and has done nothing. Benoit and McCabe were brutalized by the Senators the other night, and they wouldn’t even be an acceptable third pairing on a team that was tanking.
And once again, the Leafs are dressing Ryan Reaves, a player so bad they might as well start the game a player short and a goal down- he’s only going to dress five or six minutes, and his impact, if the Leafs are lucky, will be nothing, though most likely he will be the cause of a goal against.
Speaking of which, as bad as the Leafs blue-line is, they still have TJ Brodie on the top line which is almost worse. He has been responsible for a goal against in almost every game lately.
The Leafs keep winning, and that’s fine and I want them to win. However, they spend the last five years stressing that process matters over results, and right now the process stinks, even if the results are bordering on great. The problem, obviously, is that this won’t last.