Explaining the Joseph Woll Shuffle: From Leave of Absence to LTIR to Return

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Friday that goaltender Joseph Woll is rejoining the team and will resume on-ice activities as part of his return-to-play process. Woll had been away since early in training camp on a personal leave of absence, and his return provides a crucial boost as they’re looking to improve their record this season and get more consistent goaltending.

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The sequence of moves surrounding Woll has been both interesting and strategic. Following his leave for personal reasons, it wasn’t clear when he’d return. Head coach Craig Berube said he hadn’t been talking to the goaltender personally and could only note, “When he’s back, he’s back.” He had no update on this status.

Hours later, on October 23, the Maple Leafs placed him on long-term injured reserve (LTIR), a decision that suggested his absence wouldn’t be short-term. However, that move was designed to free up salary cap space. As David Alter of The Hockey News explained: “The club needed to clear space when they placed Chris Tanev on injured reserve due to an upper-body injury and called up Dakota Mermis. At the time of that transaction, the Leafs didn’t have sufficient salary cap space, having only $21,213 available.”

Then, just a day later, the team revealed that Woll was back. It’s important to note that Woll will not be able to dress in a game until November 1 at the earliest.

In Woll’s absence, backup options Anthony Stolarz and waiver claim Cayden Primeau are trying to hold down the crease. Stolarz has gone 2-3-1 with a .894 save percentage and 3.01 goals-against average, all the while being front and center with some early team drama. He’s not playing as well as the team would have expected, and the hope is he can find his game before the end of the month.

The “Woll Shuffle” — personal leave, LTIR placement, and eventual return are all part of a plan to get him back, ready, and potentially resuming the starter role on the team in short order.

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