Maple Leafs Quietly Make a Rare Move With Joseph Woll

Joseph Woll was placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR), allowing for Woll's salary at $3.67M to be buried, with the Leafs now having just over $3M in space available, according to PuckPedia.

Woll has not played for Toronto this season, having been away from the team for unknown personal reasons, with Woll currently absent from the team, and any potential return currently unknown.

In an update provided by Leafs head coach Craig Berube yesterday, there is no timeline for Woll, with Berube not currently in contact with the goaltender, meaning there is no change in Woll's status, at least publicly.

As Joseph Woll is not dealing with any known injury problem, and instead out for personal reasons, him being placed on LTIR could be of some confusion, but is allowable.

PuckPedia states that "To qualify for LTIR, a player must be expected to miss at least 10 NHL Games AND 24 days of the NHL season", which Toronto has hit neither as of yet, which means the Leafs likely applied for and were given a special approval by the league.

It's not known why Woll is away, making it challenging to understand the specific circumstances, but most likely, the Leafs got a specific exception to allow for Woll to be placed on LTIR, which is not an optimistic outlook.

With Joseph Woll now having his contract buried unless he returns, the move is an additional $3M+ to the Leafs, and one that could be used to upgrade the team's roster.

Toronto could use the money to acquire a replacement for Woll through a trade, with backup Cayden Primeau only having played one of Toronto's seven games this season, the large bulk of the work in net done by Anthony Stolarz.

The Leafs could also use the available space to help add an extra skater. Toronto could add the offensive weapon they had been targeting in the offseason, while using a contract such as Max Domi's at $3.75M annually as an additional layer of financial support to get a trade completed.

The blueline is also weakened by the losses of Morgan Rielly and Chris Tanev, currently dealing with injuries, but neither expected out long-term. If a trade were to happen for Toronto, it'd be on the offensive end, or for a netminder.

Joseph Woll's absence could provide some financial help to the Leafs, and if they're moving a player out, could provide the opportunity to add a real asset onto the roster.