Maple Leafs Goaltender Out With Injury

The Toronto Maple Leafs faced off against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night and did so without their young back up netminder. Joseph Woll was a late scratch and is banged up according to his head coach.

The #leafs made room for Michael Hutchinson's recall by sending Ondrej Kaše to IR retroactive to last week. Joseph Woll is dealing with a minor injury.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) December 1, 2021

The Maple Leafs threw Woll into the fire earlier this season after Petr Mrazek who was supposed to provide Jack Campbell with a running mate can't seem to get his groin healthy enough to play. Mrazek who signed a three-year deal with the Maple Leafs last summer has only appeared in two games so far in 2021-22 and has posted a 4.20 GAA and a .877 save %.

As for Woll, it appears to be a lower-body alignment of some sort and he wasn't healthy enough to dress on Wednesday. The 23-year-old rookie is off to a fine start to his NHL career as he's recorded a 3-0-0 record with a 1.67 GAA and a .939 save %, including one shutout so far in his rookie campaign. His performance has certainly raised some questions about what the Leafs should do with Mrazek. The Czech native holds trade protection against 10 teams, so perhaps this is something that's explored in the offseason as nothing drastic is expected before the trade deadline.

No word yet if Hutchinson remains with the team while they travel to Minnesota to face the Wild on Saturday night. The team could be getting back forward Ondrej Kase for the game so there will certainly need to be a few transactions made to take him off the IR. 

For now, the Leafs remain Campbell's team and they are in good hands as "Soup" is playing himself into the Vezina and Team USA conversation. Leafs Nation is hopeful a backup netminder can stay healthy enough to support their #1 netminder.

Photo credit:  Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports