Maple Leafs Announce Big News Regarding Joseph Woll Following Leave of Absence

The Toronto Maple Leafs have arguably one of the better goaltending tandems in the NHL when both are healthy and in the lineup. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case to start the 2025-26 season after Joseph Woll left the team to tend to a personal matter.

Woll was placed on the non-roster injured reserve to start the season and was then moved to long-term injured reserve yesterday.

However, in a stunning turn of events, the Leafs have announced that he has rejoined the team and will resume team activities as part of his return-to-play process.

In his absence, the Leafs have leaned on Anthony Stolarz heavily with Cayden Primeau having started in just 1 of the 7 games played so far. With two back-to-back slates upcoming, Stolarz could surely use some additional rest.

With Woll's leave of absence coming to an end, that doesn't mean his season debut is close, or even in sight yet. After missing the entirety of training camp, Woll will need to work on his strength and conditioning, as well as get his timing down before we'll see him make his season debut.

I'd imagine that the plan is to have Woll remain with the team for now and get some reps in with the big club, with the potential for a short conditioning loan with the Toronto Marlies to get a couple of games in before we see him make a full return to action.

Woll played in 42 games last year and posted a 27-14-1 record with a .909 SV% and a 2.73 GAA. Having him back in the lineup will be a huge boost for the Maple Leafs, who can look to split up the workload evenly to keep Stolarz fresh.