The Leafs have been rolling in recent weeks, racking up an incredible 7 consecutive wins and the hope is that with Joseph Woll coming back from injury this week, the team can continue to stack up the wins.
Goaltending has been a hot button issue in Toronto for much of this season, but thankfully, it has all worked out as good as anyone could have hoped. The timeline is actually quite wild, when you stop and think about it. After struggling to start the year, Ilya Samsonov lost his starting role to Joseph Woll, who then lost his starting role to Martin Jones following an unfortunate high-ankle sprain.
Jones, the team's 3rd string netminder at the time, went on to start 15 of 17 games for the Leafs during one stretch before cooling off significantly, just as Ilay Samsonov was heating up. Samsonov has now won 6 straight games, but has seen his save percentage dip pretty significantly over that stretch, posting a .933 on February 13th, followed by a .906, a .905, a .885 and a .897 in his 4 games since. Now, conveniently, just as Samsonov is cooling down, Woll has been recalled from his conditioning loan with the Marlies after making 36 saves on 37 shots in a 4-1 win over the Laval Rocket on Friday. It's been the perfect storm in goal.
For a time there, the Leafs were looking for an upgrade in net, and one of the names that had come up was Marc-Andre Fleury, who has been on the Leafs' radar for a few seasons. However, this week, Fleury finally let his intentions be known, and unfortunately for the Leafs, he does not plan to waive his NMC for a trade at next Friday's trade deadline.
"If we were last in the conference, maybe it'd be a little bit different, but this is my team. We've been battling together, right? I take pride in winning with this team. I want us to make the playoffs. That's my first priority. I think being in the hunt, it's fun, it's challenging. And I want to be here and see this team make the playoffs." - Fleury on wanting to stay put in Minnesota
Obviously, with Joseph Woll coming back, the Leafs are not in the same position they were in back in December and January, when seeking out an upgrade in goal was a little more important. Now, with Woll's return imminent, the Leafs can instead turn their focus back to their blueline ahead of March 8th.
