Joseph Woll Signs Extension Contract with Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs attempted to acquire Jacob Markstrom through trade last week.
This week, they extended the contract of back-up goalie, potential starter, and former organizational top-prospect Joseph Woll, despite all logic indicating that they will still trade for a goalie.
Kevin Weeks reports that Woll has agreed to a three-year contract extension with the Leafs.
To put it mildly, this is an intriguing deal for the Leafs.
Joseph Woll Signs Extension Contract with Toronto Maple Leafs
More than any other NHL team, the Toronto Maple Leafs are in dire need of a goalie. The team’s insistence on sticking with Samsonov over Woll and their general manager’s incapacity to upgrade in net before the trade deadline destroyed their season last year.
Woll is obviously liked by the Leafs, but with just 39 career games played, he is still essentially a rookie. Moreover, he has hardly completed a season in the last five years between the NHL and AHL combined because of injuries (and also Covid).
The Leafs cannot risk having him start in goal during Auston Matthews’ limited prime because they cannot depend on him to remain healthy.
This makes this extension a little strange. Even though the deal hasn’t been made public yet, it’s anticipated to be worth roughly $3.5 million over the following three years and begin after the forthcoming campaign.
The Leafs would have a very large goalie investment, at least in terms of cap hit, if they were to trade for a goalie like Jusse Saros or Jacob Markstrom, which we know they attempted to do last week.
Perhaps this serves as a backup plan, and they have abandoned their original plan to acquire a starting goalie. If so, that was a very dumb move, and everyone should go.
If you give them the benefit of the doubt, though, you could see this as a wise move. They don’t know if they’ll get a better goalie, but they’re going to try, and if they succeed, this contract should be movable if it makes sense to trade Woll after the next season.
This could be a very profitable deal. It looks like a low risk, high reward situation if Woll starts for the Leafs and has a fantastic season. If not, his cap hit for the next three years would be incredibly cheap, and he should be able to trade it.
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