After a disappointing 2025-26 Maple Leafs season, goaltender Joseph Woll discussed his individual performance level this year, the reasons for the team’s failure, and his goals for increasing his workload next season.
Looking back on missing the start of the season due to personal leave, are you able to share more details now, if you’re ready to talk about any of it?
Woll: To be honest, I haven’t really thought about that. I’ve been pretty nose to the floor, grinding in the season. I don’t think today is the day I’ve decided to talk about that. If, down the road, I do, I will.
Without going into detail, then, did the personal leave have any impact on your season when you returned?
Woll: Again, I just don’t really want to get into that today.
How do you feel about your season overall?
Woll: Similar to the team’s, maybe, it was a bit of up and down. I felt like I had some stretches where I was feeling good about my game, and I had some stretches where things weren’t necessarily going my way.
At the end of the day, if I look at the season as a whole, I feel like I maybe left some stuff on the table. I know what I’m capable of and what I’ve shown here before. I don’t think that I properly lived up to what I know I’m capable of. That part of it is very disappointing for me.
I’d imagine the team feels similar in that way. With a similar group, we’ve shown we can be successful, coming out last year, winning our division, and taking Florida to seven games. Obviously, missing the playoffs this year is a tough swing.
For me, the thing I’ve really been leaning into is how brutal this feels. It felt pretty crappy getting knocked out in Game 7 last year. This is a whole different animal. It is like a slow burn into the year as opposed to it erupting. I’d imagine I’d speak for the team in saying I don’t want this to happen again. I want to do everything in my power to make that a reality.
Goals against and defending were a strength last year for the team. Craig Berube pointed to it as the major issue this year. It is a similar group to last season. Any idea why you weren’t able to fix it?
Woll: I can sit here and point at different things and try to pinpoint one thing. We dealt with some injuries. No year is the same. There are a million things I could probably point out. At the end of the day, we weren’t good enough in that regard. I’m going to take a look with Curtis (Sanford) and as a team, and we are going to do our best to fix that. Sometimes, in a season, things get rolling the wrong way, and it is tough to climb out. Sometimes, you need a summer to regroup.
On that note, how confident are you that the team can bounce back into a playoff spot next season?
Woll: I’m absolutely confident in this team. The core of this group has shown that they’re unbelievable players who can lead a team in that way. They’ve shown that in the track record of making the playoffs. I have full faith in this group. Sometimes, crappy years happen.
Craig Berube mentioned that you were maybe overworked by the end of the season. Are there things you can work on to manage the workload? What will the focus be this offseason?
Woll: I think my first thing is getting back to my family. Getting back to St. Louis will be important for me. The fortunate part about failures is that they usually provide the most learning experience you can get. I’ve had quite a bit of learning experience this year. That is a good, positive spin on it. But I think there are plenty of things to look at, whether they’re tweaks inside the game or outside of the game. I’ll have plenty of time to spend on that.
So much of the conversation around goaltending has been about durability. How do you find a way to be more durable?
Woll: If I look at the last two seasons, truthfully, I think I’ve been pretty durable. I’ve had two small groin injuries that kept me out for a couple of games, if I am remembering correctly. But that is also something I’d like to look at this summer. Even missing those few games this year, that is big. I have a goal for the number of games I want to play, and if I want to be in the lineup in that way, health throughout the year is very important.
Someone once said that “availability is the best ability,” and that is definitely very important to me. I think I’ve grown a lot in that sense of understanding what my body needs and getting better and better at that. That will be a goal for the offseason, too: getting my body ready to go a full season and play the games I want to play.
What is your goal for the number of games played?
Woll: I’m trying to decide if I want to share. I’ll probably keep my goals internal for the time being, but it is certainly more than 39 or 40. I want to be a guy who can play night in and night out, who can stay healthy, and who can be consistent. That is my ultimate goal that way. I’ll have my target numbers.
