Sheldon Keefe provides update on injured goalie Ilya Samsonov

After confirming with the media on Saturday that Samsonov's issue is not believed to be a serious one, Sheldon Keefe also stated that Samsonov is not expected to miss any time. However, when he was not on the ice for practice on Tuesday, it did raise a few eyebrows and had some wondering whether the injury to the Leafs netminder was worse than originally thought. Thankfully, that isn't the case.

Following practice, with Samsonov absent, Sheldon Keefe addressed the media in Toronto and confirmed that Joseph Woll would start tonight against the New Jersey Devils after a solid performance against Carolina on Sunday. He also stated that this was always the plan and implied that we shouldn't read too much into Samsonov's absence today. The expectation is that Samsonov will resume practicing with the team tomorrow, which would put him in a position to start one of the next two games on Thursday or Saturday.

With Samsonov not skating on Tuesday, it's likely that we'll once again see Martin Jones dress as the backup so that Samsonov can take some extra rest. This is probably the smart call with the playoffs looming. Having Samsonov as close to 100% as he can possibly be can only help the Leafs when the games really begin to matter.