NHL Insider's Update on Joseph Woll a Concerning One for the Maple Leafs

Yesterday, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced that goaltender Joseph Woll had been granted a leave of absence to tend to a personal family matter.

Of course, for a situation like this, there was no immediate timeline for a return, which didn't bode too well for Woll's hopes of starting the season on the active roster with the start of the regular season set to open up in a couple of weeks.

While updates might be few and far between in this case, we were given one earlier today with NHL insider Chris Johnston delivering the news.

Of course, the main focus here is for Woll to tend to whatever the personal issue is, regardless of the timeline. As Johnston mentions, it's not a situation that has a hard deadline or that can be quantified in days or weeks.

With his looming absence potentially stretching into the regular season, the Maple Leafs will lean on Anthony Stolarz until his return. Dennis Hildeby would be the prime suspect to play the backup position, as he did last year when Woll was forced to miss the start of the season due to injury.

Woll is expected to once again play a major role for the Maple Leafs in 2025-26 as he settles into one of the better goaltending tandems around the league with Stolarz, as long as whatever the issue is doesn't cause him to miss too much time.

The 27-year-old had a career-year last season with 42 appearances, 41 starts, a 27-14-1 record with a 2.73 GAA and a .909 SV%. More of the same should be on the horizon as the Leafs look to improve on last year's second round exit.