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Joseph Woll Out Week-To-Week With High Ankle Sprain

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Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll is sidelined week-to-week with a high ankle sprain, per a team announcement Saturday morning. Woll sustained the injury in the third period of Thursday’s 4-3 win over the Senators after stopping 29 of 31 shots faced.

While this will be a longer-term absence, the Maple Leafs appear to have avoided the worst with Woll. The 25-year-old netminder could not put any weight on his left leg while leaving the ice and needed help getting to the locker room. The injury, which appeared to be initially sustained early in the third period, was aggravated on a rather innocuous-looking play with ten minutes left in regulation. Woll moved slightly across his crease to stop a sharp-angle backhand shot from Senators center Rourke Chartier and collapsed in pain after his left leg hit the post.

Unfortunately for Woll, this is not his first ankle injury – he missed significant AHL time in 2020-21 with a similar issue. He and the Leafs hope this won’t become a long-term issue as he slides into the role of Toronto’s starting netminder.

Woll, who’s signed to a bargain-bin contract carrying a $767K cap hit through 2025, has been excellent for the Leafs this season. Starting 13 of their 23 contests, he’s posted an 8-5-1 record, .916 SV% and 2.80 GAA. He’s had a handful of spectacular performances over the past few days, including making 38 saves on 39 shots in a shootout victory against the Panthers and 37 saves on 40 shots in a shootout victory against the Kraken late last month. Per MoneyPuck, Woll has stopped 7.4 goals above expected, which is good enough for 12th in the league.

While the Leafs didn’t issue a specific timeline for recovery, this should not be a months-long absence. A standard high-ankle sprain recovery timeline for athletes is in the four-to-six-week range.

That means it’s Ilya Samsonov’s crease again in Toronto for the next month or so. After guiding the Leafs to their first playoff series win in nearly two decades, he’s struggled mightily in 2023-24. Through ten starts, Samsonov has a .878 SV% and 3.58 GAA – despite a decent record of 4-1-3, he hasn’t been nearly good enough after posting a career-high .919 SV% in 40 starts last season. He has not played since their 4-3 overtime loss to the Blackhawks on November 24 and was not dressed for Thursday’s game against the Senators, as he’s been sidelined with an illness since the beginning of the month.

The Leafs did not announce a corresponding roster move along with Woll’s injury, suggesting that Samsonov is healthy enough to at least dress for tonight’s game against the Predators. If he’s not fit enough to start, 33-year-old Martin Jones will make his first Maple Leafs start after clearing waivers during preseason. He stopped nine of ten shots faced in relief against Ottawa.

Jones, 33, signed a one-year pact with the Maple Leafs in August to provide competition for the backup role with Woll heading into camp. He’s struggled in brief AHL action this season, his first in a decade, posting a .870 SV% in five games. He’s posted a save percentage below the NHL average in five straight seasons, although he did start 42 games for the Kraken last season, his highest figure since the 2018-19 campaign.

While Toronto would prefer to keep him in the minors for development purposes, 22-year-old Dennis Hildeby has been excellent for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and is available for recall. The 2022 fourth-round pick has a 1.89 GAA, .925 SV% and two shutouts in his first full season in North America.

Maple Leafs Have Shown Interest In Rasmus Ristolainen

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Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen is now healthy after missing the first 20 games of the season with a lower-body injury. The Maple Leafs have shown interest in the 29-year-old in their efforts to add to their blueline, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

The 2013 eighth-overall pick has never been a beacon of defensive acumen throughout his 687 games with the Sabres and Flyers. However, his advanced defensive metrics saw major improvement last season, bringing his on-ice value closer to what you’d expect from a player carrying a $5.1MM cap hit.

After sitting in the bottom tenth percentile of overall even-strength defensive impact during the end of his time in Buffalo and his first season with the Flyers after a 2021 trade, Ristolainen’s defensive play rocketed up to the 87th percentile of all NHL defenders, per wins against replacement data from public analyst Patrick Bacon. His pairing with Nick Seeler last season put up remarkable defensive numbers, allowing less than two expected goals against per 60 minutes on an otherwise defensively weak Flyers team, per MoneyPuck.

In a small sample this season, the trend looks to continue. His partner since returning from injury has been veteran Marc Staal, and the two have controlled a staggering 70.3% of expected goals together – the third-best of any defense pairing this season with at least 30 minutes played together.

That being said, this increase in defensive impact has also come with a significant decrease in usage. In 2021-22, his first season in Philadelphia, Ristolainen logged nearly 19 minutes per game at even strength. Last season, when his possession quality numbers spiked, that number dropped to nearly 16 minutes per game. This year, he’s averaging just 14:30 per game at even strength through five games.

Needless to say, it’s apparent Ristolainen’s sudden increase in value is a little bit of smoke and mirrors. He’s putting up these numbers against much easier competition than the minutes he shouldered early on in his career. His analytics suggest he can be a high-end third-pair defenseman but not much more. Given he’s played a similarly reduced role this season and has just one assist since returning from injury, it doesn’t make a ton of sense for a cap-strapped team such as Toronto to take on his inflated cap hit, which runs through 2027.

Considering the Flyers aren’t in a position to offload assets for less than market value, a trade makes even less sense for the Maple Leafs, given the significant return they’d have to put on the table. As Friedman notes, the Flyers are playing decent hockey, sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference with a .560 points percentage and remaining in the playoff race as the holiday season rolls around. That’s much better than anyone expected, and as such, Friedman doesn’t believe the Flyers are actively shopping Ristolainen.

While having T.J. Brodie, Timothy Liljegren, and Ristolainen would be a strong complement of right-side defenders, the Maple Leafs simply don’t have the financial flexibility to make a Ristolainen deal worth it for the limited role he would play – or, at least, the limited role he should play to be effective. Limiting chances against during 5-on-5 play is an area of need for Toronto (they’re below the league average in that area), but there are better targets to pursue that can shoulder more minutes with more success.

Take Calgary Flames pending UFA Chris Tanev, for example, as a better bet to improve the team’s defensive play while shouldering over 20 minutes per game. They’ve demonstrated interest in him as well, and he’s higher on their wish list by all accounts. As Friedman also mentions, the Maple Leafs would make a Tanev deal with the confidence that they can extend him given his hometown roots and his connection with ex-Flames and current Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving.

John Klingberg To Have Hip Surgery, Done For The Season

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The Hockey News’ David Alter shared an update from Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving, who said that John Klingberg is set to undergo hip surgery at the end of the month. This surgery will end the 31-year-old defenseman’s season.

Klingberg was moved to long-term injured reserve at the end of November without disclosing the injury at the time. He will now miss the remainder of his first season with the Maple Leafs, after signing a one-year, $4.2MM contract with the team on July 1st. He appeared in 14 games with Toronto this season, recording five assists, eight penalty minutes, and a -7.

The veteran Klingberg was originally drafted in the fifth round of the 2010 NHL Draft by the Dallas Stars. He continued playing in Sweden and Finland’s top leagues until the end of the 2013-14 season when he joined the AHL’s Texas Stars – earning his NHL debut in 2014-15. Klingberg would go on to play in eight seasons with Dallas, totaling 552 games and 374 points with the club. Klingberg signed a one-year, $7MM contract with the Anaheim Ducks ahead of the 2022-23 season. He played 50 games and scored 24 points in Anaheim, before being traded to the Minnesota Wild at that year’s trade deadline.

After 17 games in Minnesota, Klingberg joined his fourth NHL club this summer. He’s totaled 412 points, 255 penalty minutes, and a -40 in 633 career NHL games. Klingberg ranks 24th in games played amongst the 2010 NHL Draft class. He also ranks second in career scoring among defenders in that class, behind Cam Fowler’s 426 career points.

Maple Leafs Recall Martin Jones On Emergency Basis

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  • The Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled netminder Martin Jones from their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, once again on an emergency basis. The team had originally sent Jones back down to the AHL, but with regular netminder Ilya Samsonov still not well enough to back up Joseph Woll it appears Toronto will need Jones’ services in the NHL for a little while longer. Jones has a .870 save percentage through five games with the Marlies so far this season.

Samsonov Returns To Practice, Departs Early

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Per a team announcement, the AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Toronto Marlies, announced they have signed defenseman Cameron Gaunce to a professional tryout. Already a solid defensive team sitting at 10th in the AHL in terms of goals against, Gaunce’s experience on the blue line should help strengthen the Marlies defensive core even more.

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  • After having missed a few games due to an illness, goaltender for the Maple Leafs, Ilya Samsonov, has made his return to practice. Unfortunately, Samsonov did not make it through the full practice and had to depart early (X Link). It may not mean much, however, as Toronto had already loaned goaltender Martin Jones back to the AHL this morning, meaning the team may have good enough confidence that he will still be available for the team’s game on Thursday.

Giordano Out 4-6 Weeks With Broken Finger

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  • Having been out of the lineup since November 28th, it appears that the Toronto Maple Leafs will be without defenseman Mark Giordano for quite some time. In a report earlier today, Kevin Weekes of ESPN indicated that Giordano suffered a broken finger in the team’s game against the Florida Panthers, and will be out for four to six weeks. Already having rumored interest in several defensemen on the trade market, Toronto will likely be even more incentivized to make a move soon knowing that Giordano will be out for at least a month.

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Ilya Samsonov Remains Out With Illness

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  • Ilya Samsonov was absent from Toronto Maple Leafs practice today as he’s still dealing with an illness. Samsonov’s illness led to veteran Martin Jones being recalled on an emergency basis, and he backed up Joseph Woll for last night’s game against the Boston Bruins. Since the Maple Leafs next play Thursday, one would assume that Samsonov will be ready to play by then, although we obviously do not have official confirmation of that timeline.

Maple Leafs Eager To Acquire, Extend Chris Tanev

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In a longer review of the rumors circulating around the Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames defenseman, Chris Tanev, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman believes that if the Maple Leafs acquire Tanev, they may look to sign him rather quickly to an extension (Link). Being a native of Toronto, Tanev may take a discount to finish his career with his hometown team. Still, at his age, and with more important internal free agents on the horizon, it may be difficult for the Maple Leafs to make it work.

Although Tanev could significantly improve the Maple Leafs’ defense, with William Nylander, Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, and T.J. Brodie, among others, set to hit unrestricted free agency next summer, signing Tanev to an extension could become close to impossible. It is not a foregone conclusion that Toronto will sign all these players to extensions, or even that they are interested in resigning all of them, but the Maple Leafs should be trying to keep their cap situation as open as possible for next summer.

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Maple Leafs Still Waiting For Update On Klingberg's Injury

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Last weekend, it was suggested that the Maple Leafs would have further clarity on John Klingberg’s undisclosed injury.  Namely, they need to know if he will need potential season-ending surgery.  Speaking with reporters today including Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun (Twitter link), head coach Sheldon Keefe indicated that they have not received an update on the veteran’s status just yet.  Klingberg’s $4.15MM cap hit is currently on LTIR, giving Toronto short-term cap flexibility.  However, they can’t realistically use that money to go out and acquire a replacement for him if they know he’s going to be back before the end of the season; they’d have to be cap-compliant in order to activate him.  Accordingly, until they know more about Klingberg, GM Brad Treliving will be quite limited in what he can try to do to add to an injury-riddled back end.

Maple Leafs Recall Martin Jones On Emergency Basis

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With Ilya Samsonov being unavailable for tonight’s game against Boston due to illness, the Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled goaltender Martin Jones from AHL Toronto on an emergency basis.  He will back up Joseph Woll against the Bruins.

The 33-year-old played in 48 games last season with Seattle, posting a 2.99 GAA but his save percentage was just .887, a career low.  As a result, interest was limited in Jones on the open market as he had to wait more than a month to find a contract, eventually signing a one-year, $875K deal with the Maple Leafs to serve as injury insurance.  For his career, Jones has a 2.71 GAA and a .905 SV% in 444 NHL appearances over parts of ten seasons.

With a couple of teams looking for goalie depth at the end of training camp, it came as a bit of a surprise that Jones ultimately went through waivers unclaimed with Toronto assigning him to the Marlies soon after.  Jones has been in a three-goalie rotation with them this season and has played in just five games so far, putting together a 3.37 GAA with a .870 SV%.  It’s his first action at the AHL level since the 2013-14 campaign when he got into 22 games with AHL Manchester.  With Samsonov likely just being day-to-day with this illness, it’s likely that Jones’ NHL stint will be a short-lived one.

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