Woll the New Starter?

 

Photo From CP24

So, I am back after taking a few days off for my birthday and during my little break we saw Toronto drop a game to Chicago and then follow up with a 3-1 loss to Florida to begin their current road trip. These two losses would send the fanbase spiralling into their usual “Fire Sheldon Keefe” cries. The Leafs would then head to Tampa and with Joe Woll coming in, relieving Samsonov the Leafs would rally to win in overtime. The morning after that game Leaf fans were going on and on about how Woll should be the Leafs new number one. That stance was only strengthened by another great performance from the young netminder in Washington last night. The Leafs would be heavily outshot 37-17 but would head back to their hotel with two points thanks to a 4-1 win. Toronto didn’t play the greatest of games that’s obvious and were bailed out by Woll. I am happy to see him get the win after all as a Leaf fan you’re happy any time the Leafs win but let's pump the breaks and hold off on engraving Joseph Woll on this year's Vezina trophy.  Last night was another example of some of the traditional October issues we see the Leafs have. They got caught running around after a failed clearance in the D-Zone leading to Ovechkin’s first goal of the season. Lastly, they got caught puck-watching a few times but were bailed by their goalie. Now, most will have watched the game last night and are thinking “They gave up too many shots” You are right teams aren’t going to win most nights when they are outshot 37-17 but it’s October hockey right now it’s about banking points. Defensively this team is far from perfect, and Toronto was lucky to not be on the losing end of the game. I still believe Brad Treliving will make a trade to strengthen the blue line because there is simply no chance, he is content with this blue line regardless of their play so far.

Just because Joe Woll bailed Toronto out last night doesn’t mean Toronto’s goalie issue is fixed and we have nothing to worry about because he is human, he will have off nights. Don’t get me wrong Woll is going to be a great goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he can’t be thrown to the wolves as our starter. You’ll risk burning goalies out and Toronto has a history of doing that with goalies. Felix Potvin, Curtis Joseph, Ed Belfour, JS Aubin. You can even go back to the 70’s and say Mike Palmateer started too many games for Toronto.

For the Leafs to maintain success they need Ilya Samsonov to find his game. Ilya was awful in the start against Tampa there’s nothing positive about it but in his previous start against Florida yes, the Leafs lost 3-1 on the scoreboard but that goal happened with 0.1 left on the clock on an empty net. So, Toronto lost that game 2-1 and the second Florida goal is the only one I put on Samsonov but really, he kept the Leafs in the game and were a goalpost away from at least salvaging a point and going to overtime. Going into the Florida game Samsonov was 2-0. Sure, Ilya’s goals against average didn’t look flattering but he had two wins to start the season and fans were writing him off saying he was done he’s washed up forgetting that in the summer every Leaf fan was checking their phones daily hoping a deal would be announced. I have had so many people tell me Martin Jones should be up instead of Samsonov. Jones in the AHL with the Marlies has 2 wins but has a save percentage under 900. A lot like his last few years in the NHL he’d get the wins, but his save percentage would be low.

Leaf fans need to relax and let things sort themselves out. Ilya Samsonov saved the Leafs season last year because remember Kyle Dubas went all in hoping that Matt Murray would be the team's number-one but anyone who paid attention knew Matt Murray wasn’t going to last. Ilya is a good goalie in this league who has gotten off to a sluggish start, but I think he will find his game and get things back on track and all will be forgotten in Leaf land.

 

The Leafs are back in action Thursday against Dallas which should be a fun contest. Thanks as always for reading.