Prospect Info: Joseph Woll

[Judas Tavares]

Last night we saw the good and the bad. The positives are he won his first NHL game and made some big saves late. Good to get that first one out of the way.

When he was in college, he seemed to play more of a calm and controlled game. Since he's gone pro, he's been a little more erratic. I think we saw both last night. He sometimes had issues tracking the puck and it caused him to slide very far side to side every so often. He was for sure erratic in his crease at times.

But we also saw the college calmness in his game too. Lots of saves where he cut the angle and didn't move around too much, making it look easy and routine.

I would love some more starts, let him gain experience. A Campbell-Woll tandem going forward wouldn't be a bad thing if he can develop into a viable and reliable backup.

 

[nuck]

They won with an AHL goalie over a lesser teams AHL goalie. The two points are great but I wouldnt read anything more into it.

 

[BodaciousBeefBazooka]

They won with an AHL goalie over a lesser teams AHL goalie. The two points are great but I wouldnt read anything more into it.

I think we are just more subconsciously at the back of our minds celebrating him as he is a young kid and got his 1st nhl win. It's just nice to see

 

[Phion Keneuf]

They won with an AHL goalie over a lesser teams AHL goalie. The two points are great but I wouldnt read anything more into it.

I agree. Congrats to Woll on his first NHL W. but I wouldn’t lose any sleep if he never plays for us again

 

[GojuLeaf]

Kinda reminding me of Jonas Gustafson last night...
Not really sure that's a good thing.

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

Kinda reminding me of Jonas Gustafson last night...
Not really sure that's a good thing.

Absolutely nothing in his game is close to Gustavssons. Gustavsson is pure athleticism, Woll was very controlled and calm.

 

[Once]

I was hoping to read some breakdown or analysis of his game here.

I’m happy he won but his structure/positioning seem off. He’s calm, quick and is impressively flexible I noticed (see that stretch on skinners first goal). I’m curious as to what the plan is for him moving forward.

 

[Knies iT]

Thought he was fine, which is better than expected for a guy with barely 50 pro games. I'd only really blame him for the point shot against where he lost his stick and arguably another for not reading the bounce off the backboards in a rink he's not familiar with.

I'd play him a few more times this season, sparingly. Throw him in the deep end. These call-ups should give him confidence and ideally he goes back down and posts a sv% > .900 in the AHL this season. The Marlies have been a defensive disaster since he's been with them, but look better this year. He should be capable of a career year with a handful of NHL games.

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

Sparks NHL debut. 0 goals against but those of us who know, saw exactly what this was. A guy with no comprehension of positioning and an absolute fluke.


Last night's game. Woll allowed 4 goals, but this was a better showing than Sparks' debut.

 

[Anthrax442]

Sparks NHL debut. 0 goals against but those of us who know, saw exactly what this was. A guy with no comprehension of positioning and an absolute fluke.


Last night's game. Woll allowed 4 goals, but this was a better showing than Sparks' debut.

and much better than Kaskisuo's

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

This shows more of the mishaps Sparks got away with in his debut.

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

and much better than Kaskisuo's

Kaski played that game by himself. I'd rather take Kaski over Sparks.

 

[justashadowof]

I think it was kind of weird giving him an NHL start. He hasn't come close to excelling at the AHL level yet. Is there a practical roster reason why Kallgren or Hutchinson weren't brought up to start this game?

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

I think it was kind of weird giving him an NHL start. He hasn't come close to excelling at the AHL level yet. Is there a practical roster reason why Kallgren or Hutchinson weren't brought up to start this game?

Might have to do with Woll being with the team already, and the other 2 are in Chicago.

 

[The Iceman]

Sparks NHL debut. 0 goals against but those of us who know, saw exactly what this was. A guy with no comprehension of positioning and an absolute fluke.


Last night's game. Woll allowed 4 goals, but this was a better showing than Sparks' debut.

I take the shutout over last nights performance. Hard to beat perfect.
I remember Sparks fondly for 2 things.
Playing so poorly we got Austin Mathews
And an interview where he said he decided to take the summer off from playing ice hockey ahead of his big opportunity to win the backup job from Curtis Mc. He won by default and the rest is bad Leafs history.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

I was hoping to read some breakdown or analysis of his game here.

I’m happy he won but his structure/positioning seem off. He’s calm, quick and is impressively flexible I noticed (see that stretch on skinners first goal). I’m curious as to what the plan is for him moving forward.

I posted my analysis of the goals in the backup goalie thread. I'll post it here.

The 1st goal was a one timer from the point that goes just wide. Woll came out to cut the angle down and was in the correct position. The puck takes a hard bounce from behind the net and pops out to the other circle where Skinner one times it. The only way he stops that is if he had stayed deep in his net on the original shot, which is the wrong play. No goalie is stopping that. There is a reason why teams use that as a set play.

The 2nd goal was a one timer through 2 bodies which is nearly impossible to track. Not a weak goal but stoppable if the goalie gets lucky.

The 3rd goal was a giveaway from Dermott to right below the hash marks. Woll quickly comes out to cut the angle and challenge the shooter, like he should but the guy does a one touch pass to the open man back door to take a one timer. Another unstoppable puck. Where was the coverage?

The 4th goal is the weak one that every goalie should have. It was a shot from the point with no bodies in front to obstruct his vision and he allows it through the body. He needs to have that.

He was more than fine in this game for being his NHL debut. My only issue with him was he got caught swimming at times which has been a bad tendency of his in the AHL. His positioning and rebound control was pretty solid and I didn't think he looked out of place. I was expecting a rough night and was overall fairly happy with his performance.

 

[nuck]

Thought he was fine, which is better than expected for a guy with barely 50 pro games. I'd only really blame him for the point shot against where he lost his stick and arguably another for not reading the bounce off the backboards in a rink he's not familiar with.

I'd play him a few more times this season, sparingly. Throw him in the deep end. These call-ups should give him confidence and ideally he goes back down and posts a sv% > .900 in the AHL this season. The Marlies have been a defensive disaster since he's been with them, but look better this year. He should be capable of a career year with a handful of NHL games.

Wouldnt the.odds be a lot better if they threw Kallgren in the deep end though? He has thrived in the same tough Marlie environment. Woll seems like a below average AHL goalie who's expiry date is fast approaching. If I was just going to throw an unproven keeper in to see what happens I might have even tried the Growlers guy first but you have to treat your players with respect and he is the senior guy in the system.

I found the decision to bring him up kind of bizarre actually. I will say that giving a guy who was your top goalie prospect at one time a start in the show is a nice gesture but I wouldnt give him another until he earns it.

Now that position, more than any other, is tied to confidence, and this will maybe provide him with a reset, although not sure that was their strategy. I hope it amps him up a bit because he has the physical tools.

 

[TMLife17]

I think it was kind of weird giving him an NHL start. He hasn't come close to excelling at the AHL level yet. Is there a practical roster reason why Kallgren or Hutchinson weren't brought up to start this game?

Not many goalies excel in the AHL. The league is sporadic and typically good goalies put up better numbers in the NHL over the AHL just because the game is more structured and predictable.

 

[Bluelines]

Someone needs to teach our goalies how to cheat.

You look at a guys like Miller, he was maybe a 160 lbs, a bone rack of a man, but when he put on the gear he looked as big as Thanos. Big men like Woll with just a little equipment augmentation can take away a lot of goals from a few common and simple cheats. I wouldn't suggest it if everyone didn't do it, but every goalie cheats with his equipment, Every Veznia winner in the last 20 years has cheated on one way or another. There is that one cheat where you wear a big jersey and run a string from your elbow pad to your chest protector below the bottom of your ribcage. Takes away the hole under your arm pit. Wear bigger pants to close up your five hole, everyone wears leg pads way too large. I'm not a goalie so I cant tell you all the easy cheats but , there are a lot and Woll looked skinny for a guy his size.

 

[Stephen]

I think it was kind of weird giving him an NHL start. He hasn't come close to excelling at the AHL level yet. Is there a practical roster reason why Kallgren or Hutchinson weren't brought up to start this game?

Despite all the polite talking points Hutch is barely playable at the NHL level and when he struggles he saps the confidence from the group for not only the game he’s playing but seemingly the rest of the week.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

I posted my analysis of the goals in the backup goalie thread. I'll post it here.

The 1st goal was a one timer from the point that goes just wide. Woll came out to cut the angle down and was in the correct position. The puck takes a hard bounce from behind the net and pops out to the other circle where Skinner one times it. The only way he stops that is if he had stayed deep in his net on the original shot, which is the wrong play. No goalie is stopping that. There is a reason why teams use that as a set play.

The 2nd goal was a one timer through 2 bodies which is nearly impossible to track. Not a weak goal but stoppable if the goalie gets lucky.

The 3rd goal was a giveaway from Dermott to right below the hash marks. Woll quickly comes out to cut the angle and challenge the shooter, like he should but the guy does a one touch pass to the open man back door to take a one timer. Another unstoppable puck. Where was the coverage?

The 4th goal is the weak one that every goalie should have. It was a shot from the point with no bodies in front to obstruct his vision and he allows it through the body. He needs to have that.

He was more than fine in this game for being his NHL debut. My only issue with him was he got caught swimming at times which has been a bad tendency of his in the AHL. His positioning and rebound control was pretty solid and I didn't think he looked out of place. I was expecting a rough night and was overall fairly happy with his performance.

4th goal got slightly defected at pace by Holl but he needs to learn to keep his arm tight to his side on that play and either way it hits him
1st goal is one you see him giving up most of time with Marlies where he comes out a little too far to challenge shooter and when shot and/or pass comes he does not react fast enough to swivel back to post and push across net .. it is a combo of timing and positioning but he is too gung ho to attack shooters 1 on 1 and he needs to learn this skill ASAP otherwise he will not make it .. he knows what his issue is and he is working on it but he relied so heavily on his athleticim as a tender for 14 years of development in STL and now he realizes in pro hockey he needs to be less aggressive .. da book is out of him now with Leaf only fans

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

4th goal got slightly defected at pace by Holl but he needs to learn to keep his arm tight to his side on that play and either way it hits him
1st goal is one you see him giving up most of time with Marlies where he comes out a little too far to challenge shooter and when shot and/or pass comes he does not react fast enough to swivel back to post and push across net .. it is a combo of timing and positioning but he is too gung ho to attack shooters 1 on 1 and he needs to learn this skill ASAP otherwise he will not make it .. he knows what his issue is and he is working on it but he relied so heavily on his athleticim as a tender for 14 years of development in STL and now he realizes in pro hockey he needs to be less aggressive .. da book is out of him now with Leaf only fans

Jt you really don't know what your talking about on that first goal. He wasn't even outside of the blue paint for the shot from the point. Those types of goals happen every week in the NHL. It's not some dump-in from centre ice that slides in five-hole.

 

[mydnyte]

Last night we saw the good and the bad. The positives are he won his first NHL game and made some big saves late. Good to get that first one out of the way.

When he was in college, he seemed to play more of a calm and controlled game. Since he's gone pro, he's been a little more erratic. I think we saw both last night. He sometimes had issues tracking the puck and it caused him to slide very far side to side every so often. He was for sure erratic in his crease at times.

But we also saw the college calmness in his game too. Lots of saves where he cut the angle and didn't move around too much, making it look easy and routine.

I would love some more starts, let him gain experience. A Campbell-Woll tandem going forward wouldn't be a bad thing if he can develop into a viable and reliable backup.

he wasnt great, but Hutch would have lost the game.
as a team, they were overall pathetic

 

[mydnyte]

Someone needs to teach our goalies how to cheat.

You look at a guys like Miller, he was maybe a 160 lbs, a bone rack of a man, but when he put on the gear he looked as big as Thanos. Big men like Woll with just a little equipment augmentation can take away a lot of goals from a few common and simple cheats. I wouldn't suggest it if everyone didn't do it, but every goalie cheats with his equipment, Every Veznia winner in the last 20 years has cheated on one way or another. There is that one cheat where you wear a big jersey and run a string from your elbow pad to your chest protector below the bottom of your ribcage. Takes away the hole under your arm pit. Wear bigger pants to close up your five hole, everyone wears leg pads way too large. I'm not a goalie so I cant tell you all the easy cheats but , there are a lot and Woll looked skinny for a guy his size.

Woll is taller than Vasilevsky but looks like a child if you put in-net pics of them side by side. ...and Hutch, i thought was under 6' tall, i have no idea how he makes himself look smaller than Irbe in net.
Look at the space over their shoulders in the 'set' position, now, tell me, which one looks 5'8" and which looks 6'3"

 

[Twine Tickler]

Honestly I have not been a fan of what I've seen of Woll in the AHL. Albeit I do not watch every game. I have seen a fair amount though, and I do feel comfortable being able to provide my assessment of him.

I really feel like Woll has always struggled to track the play at the pro level. It seems like he is a fraction of a second late on those bang-bang plays that leads him to need to make a more athletic save vs. a positional save. I think a lot of those goals that went in last game were eerily similar to what Freddy would let in last year. Which ironically, I felt they shared the exact same critique. A lot of the goals that go in against Woll you can make a case for being "unstoppable", but in actuality if he reads the play just a 1/10th of a second quicker, he would have a better angle to make that save.

From a raw ability/athleticism standpoint, he's got the tools.

My assessment of the 4 GA on saturday:

1. Tough break off the lively boards. Hard to tell if he could have played that any differently. He actually made a really strong athletic play towards the net in recovery and nearly made the save. I think he probably would have liked to start his push off towards the goal line the very moment the puck squirted wide. He obviously didn't know where that puck was going to bounce out to, but tracking back to the line is the safe play regardless. It's that split second decision that he didn't make that made a skinner save almost impossible. Tough break, and would have been a tough save regardless, but I think Woll can tighten that up a bit.

2.Bad turnover, great 1T through traffic. Woll needs to come out a bit more to give himself a better chance on that play. I just don't think he's used to guys taking shots like that in the A TBH. If you look at the replay, by the time skinner makes that dish out to Thompson, Woll isn't even set. Almost felt like he wasn't expecting the 1T. Again, tough save, but he could have played it better for sure with a better read off of the skinner dish, and knowing he's got a shooter in the high slot.

3.Terrible turnover, bang bang play, great dish by Thompson, skinner is all alone, Not many goalies making this save.

4. Woll loses his twig, you can tell he is flustered the entire time. A goalie losing his stick is like a boat without a rudder. I know he ended up with a players stick, but the puck literally squirts in right where the shaft would have meet the paddle on a goalie stick. Who knows if his blocker was too low or too high on the players stick shaft, which caused the hole the puck went through. It's alot easier to just run your blocker hand right down the shaft until it hits the paddle. Without the paddle there is no referance point.. Still a puck he's gotta find a way to save, but I think he makes that save with ease if he has his own twig.

All n all, He's got the raw abilities, but he needs to track the play a bit better IMO. To me, he reminds me of a Freddy/Reimer hybrid. His reaction time is Reimer like (ie. not good), and his flexibility and athleticism is Freddy like.

I like the call to give him a game, and I'd like them to run him as the backup until Petr comes back. This is great exposure for a young tendy. He still has a long way to go IMO, but goalies just take forever to fully develop. It still is really too early to tell if there is something there. All the tools, but will he ever find the toolbox, that's the real question