Joseph Woll is ready to take over as the Maple Leafs’ No. 1 goaltender, but there’s still an if

Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll is well-versed in the four words that usually follow his name.
“If he stays healthy.”
He can only shrug it off.
“I think it’s just been tough luck,” Woll said. “I don’t think it’s something that I’ve been doing wrong. At the end of the day, injuries are something that happen. I feel like I’ve done everything I can to put myself in a good position to stay healthy.
“If something does happen again, I’ll do what I always do. And I’ll come back better.”
Woll’s knack for coming up injured once or twice a season is the only thing that has stopped him from becoming the team’s No. 1 goalie when the opportunity has presented itself. A high ankle sprain that cost him the middle of last season, and a head injury that kept him out of Game 7 in the first round of the playoffs.
He has only played half a game this pre-season, but is the likely starter for Saturday’s exhibition schedule finale against the Detroit Red Wings at Scotiabank Arena. The start would set him up to be the Leafs’ goaltender in Wednesday’s season opener in Montreal.
“I know the work that I put in over the summer,” Woll said. “I know what I want to do. I know what my goals are, and I know how to get there. So I think it’s more just about me taking it day by day and focusing on stuff I can control and helping this team the best I can.
“I understand it’s not always going to be perfect, you’re not always going to have a 10-out-of-10 game. What I’ve learned is just trying to get back to neutral and being as consistent as I can. At the end of the day, what more can you do? I think I’m comfortable with knowing that, and I’m excited for the challenge.”
Woll’s size, ability, talent and disposition all point toward him being the best goalie the Leafs have developed since Felix Potvin emerged in 1992.
“(Woll has) great ability in net,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “Very agile, tracking (pucks), works at his game, very dialed in for a goalie, big. He’s got a lot to offer in net.”
It’s a position the team put an added focus on about five years ago, with goalies doing their own drills and having more coaches to draw on.
“It’s a unique position in sports,” Woll said. “It’s important to have good goaltending, obviously. We’ve seen that make or break teams. So it seems like a natural thing to focus on. But seeing how much that we put into it and going the extra mile with all the support we get, you feel fortunate to be here.”
Nothing is written in stone, but if Woll plays Wednesday in Montreal, Anthony Stolarz would be the likely starter the next night in New Jersey.
Whether this turns into a 50-50 situation or 60-40 likely depends on how each goalie responds to what will be a bigger workload than either has experienced before. Woll played 25 games last season, a career high in the NHL, and has never played more than 32 as a pro (with the AHL Marlies in 2019-20). Stolarz’s highs are 28 games in the NHL (Anaheim, 2021-22) and 40 as a pro (San Diego and Anaheim, 2019-20).
Stolarz has actually had the better camp, posting a shutout in Detroit in his last start. Throw in Dennis Hildeby, who allowed only one goal against Montreal last week, and there’s excitement over what the Leafs have in net now, and for the future.
They are all big: Woll is six-foot-three, Stolarz  six-foot-six and Hildeby  six-foot-seven. And if veteran Matt Murray pitches in, he’s six-foot-five.
They are also cheap: Woll is playing at a cap hit of $666,667 (U.S.); Stolarz is at $2.5 million; Hildeby’s NHL cap hit is $843,333; and Murray is at $875,000.
Woll, though, feels like the fan favourite, the homegrown goalie fans have trusted more than Murray and the departed Ilya Samsonov over the past couple of seasons. The team seems to feel that way to, with general manager Brad Treliving suggesting Woll’s injuries are just the sorts of things that happen to goalies before he signed Woll to a three-year, $11-million extension that kicks in next year.
“This is home for me,” Woll said. “I don’t want to play anywhere else. I feel very lucky to be here with this group of people and this staff. I hope I can do as well as I can to have success for the people here who have taken good care of me.”
Notes: Calle Järnkrok, Nick Robertson and Jake McCabe all missed practice Friday due to undisclosed injuries … The Leafs made more cuts to get the roster down to 28. Russian forward Nikita Grebenkin was among the cuts, while the Leafs put forward Alex Steeves on waivers for the purposes of sending him to the Marlies … Forward Nick Abruzzese cleared waivers and will report to the AHL club.