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Leafs Top-40 Prospect List - #12

September 2, 2022, 12:39 PM ET [36 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs organization has drafted and developed a number of youngsters currently playing in the NHL (Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Pierre Engvall, and Justin Holl), but the club under GM Kyle Dubas has to keep replenishing the prospect pool to provide the Leafs with youngsters who can step up and replace veterans who retire, depart via free agency or are traded.

As we did last year, we will rank the club’s top prospects over the upcoming weeks based on their progress in either the NCAA, CHL, Europe, ECHL or AHL and their potential to make the Leafs roster and make a contribution in the future.

Players are eligible for the list if they have not played more than 40 NHL games:

#40 - Vladislav Kara – LW (Yugra - VHL)
#39 - Kalle Loponen – D (Koo Koo Kouvola/JyP HT – Finland SM-Liiga)
#38 - Jeremy McKenna – RW (Wichita – ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#37 - John Fusco – D (Harvard – NCAA)
#36 - Noel Hoefenmayer – D (Newfoundland – ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#35 - Ryan Chyzowski - LW (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto - AHL)
#34 - Braeden Kressler - C (Flint - OHL)
#33 - Nikita Grebyonkin - RW (Stalnye Lisy - MHL, Magnitogorsk - KHL)
#32 - Vyacheslav Peksa - G (Ibris Kazan - MHL)
#31 - Dryden McKay - G (Minnesota Duluth - NCAA)
#30 - Bobby McMann - C (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto - AHL)
#29 - Pavel Gogolev – LW (Newfoundland - ECHL, Toronto – AHL)
#28 - Joe Miller – C (Chicago – USHL)
#27 - Veeti Miettinen – RW (St. Cloud St. – NCAA)
#26 - Brandon Lisowsky - LW (Saskatoon - WHL)
#25 - Max Ellis - RW (Notre Dame - NCAA, Toronto - AHL)
#24 - Axel Rindell – D (Karpat – Finland SM-Liiga)
#23 - Mac Hollowell - D (Toronto – AHL)
#22 - Artur Akhtyamov – G (Ak Bars Kazan – MHL/VHL/KHL)
#21 - Semyon Der-Argushintsev - C (Toronto - AHL)
#20 - Curtis Douglas - C (Toronto – AHL)
#19 - Mikhail Abramov – C (Toronto – AHL)
#18 - Dennis Hildeby - G (Farjestad - SHL)
#17 - Ty Voit – LW (Sarnia – OHL)
#16 - Filip Kral - D (Toronto - AHL)
#15 - Nick Moldenhauer - RW (Chicago - USHL)
#14 - Rodion Amirov – LW (Ufa Salavat – KHL)
#13 - Ryan Tverberg – C (Connecticut – NCAA)


#12 - Joseph Woll – G (Toronto – AHL/NHL)



After years of using trades to acquire their goalie of the future, the Toronto Maple Leafs hoped that a developmental project would be a contributor at the NHL level in the next few years.

Joseph Woll has reached the point where the word prospect may not be applicable, but the 24-year-old did reach the NHL in his third year of professional hockey. Selected in the third round of the 2016 NHL Draft, Woll is a big, lanky goaltender (6’4”, 202 lb) who played in the US National Development Program and three seasons with Boston College, making 30+ starts each year.

Woll won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2017 World Juniors as a backup to Tyler Parsons and put up very good numbers as the starter for Team USA in his second WJC appearance in 2018.

Woll was put in the position of starting his pro career as the primary starter with the AHL Marlies in 2019 after Ian Scott’s season-ending hip injury, but the promotion of head coach Sheldon Keefe to replace Mike Babcock and the call-up of many players to the NHL caused a bit of chaos with the Leafs affiliate.

After starting the year 3-1-2 under Keefe, Woll went 11-16-3 and finished the season with a 3.75 GAA and .880 save percentage in 32 games before the league shut down in March. The Missouri native’s numbers improved slightly in an abbreviated AHL season, with a 3.54 GAA, .892 save percentage, and a .500 record (7-7-0) in 15 games.



Leafs GM Kyle Dubas made a concerted effort to improve the American League affiliate by adding veterans that would make the Marlies more competitive, including adding European import Erik Kallgren and veteran Michael Hutchinson to their goaltending depth, but just like 2021, Toronto’s goaltenders were struck by the injury bug, as Scott and Petr Mrazek found their way to the injured list.

Woll was on IR most of training camp with an undisclosed injury, but was recalled in mid-November after just three AHL starts to backup Jack Campbell. After winning his debut in Buffalo on November 13, he recorded his first NHL shutout on Long Island a week later and another victory in San Jose before giving up six goals in his only loss to Winnipeg.

Injuries continue to be an issue for Woll, as he missed a month with a knee injury after being returned to the Toronto Marlies and suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in March. In 15 games, he went 6-7-0 with a 3.36 GAA and .907 save percentage. His health misfortune did not prevent GM Kyle Dubas from signing Woll to a three-year, one-way contract extension ($766,667 AAV) in February, which may mean that the club still has hopes of him being a depth goalie or NHL backup down the line.

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