'He Needed A (Maintenance) Day': How The Maple Leafs Are Managing Joseph Woll Amid Increased Workload

Joseph Woll is having a career year with the Toronto Maple Leafs and his teammates are taking notice.

One day after his team-leading 17th win of the season against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday, Woll was absent from practice with what head coach Craig Berube said was a maintenance day.

Woll has played 25 games this season, tying a career-high he set last year with the Maple Leafs. The 26-year-old has made most of the starts for Toronto since Anthony Stolarz was injured in mid-December, putting together a 10-5 record and a .900 save percentage since then.

Related: ‘He Wants The Net’: Joseph Woll Continues To Embrace Increased Workload Despite Maple Leafs’ Loss to Hurricanes, But Is The Demand Becoming Too Much?

Although his statistics might not be the prettiest, he's making important saves when needed, which has helped Toronto win games.

"Well, he's very talented. That's definitely one thing. And a very hard worker. He works extremely hard in practice, tries on every play in practice. That's where we've got to kind of pull back a little bit at times and maintenance," Berube said of Woll on Tuesday after practice.

"He had a maintenance day today because, if he's out there, he's going to compete on every puck. And he's at the level right now, he's playing a lot for us and he needed a day. But extremely talented goalie and competitive."

Mitch Marner said on Monday that the team's goaltenders get treated like quarterbacks. Ryan Reaves joked on Tuesday that it's been fascinating to watch the netminders in Toronto get time off the ice.

"I've never seen young goalies get days off like this when the team's out there grinding, but that's the new NHL, I guess," he said, jokingly. "So, yeah, more and more rest days for Woller, I guess."

When Reaves was asked if saying Toronto treats their goalies like NFL quarterbacks is true, he went a step further: "Like Joel Embiid," he smiled. "I'm going to call him Joe Embiid from now on."

Although Woll has allowed three or more goals in six of his last seven starts, he's making saves when the team needs it most. That was on full display against the Lightning on Monday, and especially against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

He had a save-of-the-year candidate inside the Bell Centre when he dived across to stop Nick Suzuki.

"I was like, 'There's no way, like, anybody's stopping this,' and all of a sudden, he comes flying out of nowhere," Bobby McMann said of Woll's save on Tuesday. "It's nice to watch. It's awesome."

McMann has been a teammate of Woll's for a while, dating back to their days in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies, which began in 2021.

"I remember telling my dad when I first came to the Marlies how good Joe was and how structurally sound he was all the time. He seemed like he was like an NHL goalie right from the first time I was here," McMann said.

"I was like, 'This guy moves so smooth and moves so well.' So I feel like I saw it early."

After Monday's 5-3 win over the Lightning, Woll discussed what conversations look like between him, the Maple Leafs, and the team's sports science staff on when to dial back the workload.

"Just throughout my life I've always had a mindset of hard work. It's learning how to manage the load and things like that. And when it's the right time to reel it back and when's the right time to push it," he said.

"We've got a great staff and I trust them and I'm just doing the best I can and taking each experience and learn from it."

After a busy first half of the season, Toronto has just three games in the next 10 days. And with no back-to-backs until March, we likely see the goaltender in every matchup until Stolarz returns from injury.

Stay updated with the most interesting Maple Leafs stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News to never miss a story.