Woll Placed On IR, Hildeby Starts Vs. Habs

The Toronto Maple Leafs needed success on their six-game road swing to have any chance of salvaging their season, and with the win over Carolina on Thursday, ended the stretch with a 4-2-0 record and out of the basement of the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately, the injury bug returned in the worst place at the wrong time for the Leafs, as goalie Joseph Woll suffered a lower-body injury in the second period of the 5-1 victory. 

On Saturday, the Leafs placed Woll on IR retroactive to December 4, and called up rookie Artur Akhtyamov from the AHL Toronto Marlies. After the clubs morning skate on Saturday, head coach Craig Berube indicated that he is hopeful that Woll will only be out short-term.

“He’ll be a week. Hopefully,” Berube said. “We’re not expecting it to be too long.” 

Pardon my skepticism regarding Woll’s prognosis, but Anthony Stolarz’s upper-body injury was described as “day-to-day”, but it has been 25 days since the netminder left the loss in Boston and he has yet to been seen on the ice. 

Woll may have saved the Leafs season, going 4-3-1, with a 2.30 GAA and .927 save % in eight starts, including three of the four wins on Toronto’s six-game road swing, but with three home games this week against Montreal, Tampa Bay, and San Jose, the torch has been passed to Dennis Hildeby to carry the starter’s burden. 

“We have to be motivated, we have to be desperate, it’s not the ideal spot to be in, but that’s where we’re at.” Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly said. “It’s been a good week or so, the trip was a good opportunity for us to prove to ourselves we can play a brand of hockey that win games and that we can be proud of.”

Other than Hildeby, the Leafs will make no lineup changes on Saturday, and they hope to exact a bit of revenge against the Habs after getting trounced 5-2 at Centre Bell two Saturdays ago. Defensemen Chris Tanev and Marshall Rifai both took part in drills at the skate wearing red non-contact uniforms. 

Berube indicated that Tanev will be assessed this week after being out five weeks following a collision with Philadelphia’s Matvei Michkov on November 1, and that he will begin ramping up towards a return if they get a positive prognosis.   

Leafs defensive prospect Victor Johansson was named to Sweden’s club for the upcoming IIHF World Junior Championships in Minnesota later this month. The 19-year-old blueliner was selected in the fourth round of the 2024 NHL Draft and had 39 points with the Leksands Jr. club last season. 

After impressing at the World Junior Summer Showcase in July, it appeared that the slick skating defenseman was a forgone conclusion to make the Swedish club at the WJC. This season, Johansson has played at the junior, second-level pro Allsvenskan, and SHL level in the Leksands system.