Losing Joseph Woll is a huge blow for Toronto Maple Leafs

There is no question the Toronto Maple Leafs have had their issues between the pipes during the Brendan Shanahan administration.

However, just when it looked like they had established their No. 1 netminder this season, they were dealt a huge blow.

During the third period of Thursday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators, Joseph Woll went down with what looked like a lower-body injury, and had to be helped off the ice.

Martin Jones, who had just been called up from the Toronto Marlies that day, came in relief to help secure a 4-3 win.

The word after the game was that Woll was going to miss some time. Head coach Sheldon Keefe said the Missouri native will be reevaluated in the coming days.

The Leafs were already in the market for a defenseman, but now they might have to look at adding a goaltender. Ilya Samsonov, who was out of the lineup due to illness, has not been great when called upon this year, and there is a reason why Jones was reduced to a spot in the AHL.

Prior to the injury, Woll was 8-5-1 in 15 appearances this season, with a 2.80 goals-against average and .916 save percentage. Thursday night’s game marked his fifth straight start, and was on pace to earn his third win in four games.

On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Colby Cohen explains the gravity of Woll’s injury.

Colby Cohen: Look, all signs pointing to this is trouble. You don’t have a team that plays with an incredibly disciplined structure. They think offense before defense. I looked at how Samsonov has played…he hasn’t really given me a reason to believe that they’re going to be okay without Woll.

This is really concerning to me, if you’re the Toronto Maple Leafs, because this isn’t a team, to me, that’s built to protect a goaltender.

You can watch the full segment, and the entire episode here…