The Toronto Maple Leafs are flirting with disaster. There is a terrifying unwritten rule in the NHL: if you aren’t in a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving, your season is statistically likely over. With the Leafs entering a potential transition phase and lacking a first-round pick in the deep 2026 NHL Draft, management might be forced into a corner.
How do they salvage the future? The answer might be painful: putting Joseph Woll on the trade block.
According to Ryan Dixon of Sportsnet, if the current woes persist, the Leafs could pivot to become sellers. With Anthony Stolarz providing stability and term in the crease, Dixon suggests Woll is the team’s most valuable trade chip to recoup that missing first-rounder. But is trading your homegrown goaltender a stroke of genius or a fatal mistake?
Analyzing the Risk: Woll for a 1st Round Pick?
As an analyst who has watched this team struggle with goaltending consistency for a decade, the logic here is fascinating but flawed. The report suggests that because Anthony Stolarz is under contract for term, the Leafs have the luxury of moving Woll to a goalie-starved team like the Edmonton Oilers or Montreal Canadiens.
The market is certainly there. A young, athletic goaltender with Woll’s ceiling is exactly what a team like Edmonton needs to stabilize their own shaky back end. If Toronto decides to “retool” rather than rebuild, grabbing a 2026 first-round pick for Woll allows them to restock the cupboard without tearing down the core forwards just yet.
The Danger of Breaking the Tandem
However, here is my personal insight: If the Leafs trade Woll, they are chasing fool’s gold. In the modern NHL, you don’t win with one goalie; you win with a tandem. Stolarz has been fantastic, but relying on him to carry a 55+ game load solo is a massive gamble.
If the goal is “transition,” you transition by keeping your high-upside assets, not selling them. Woll and Stolarz offer the Leafs the most stability they’ve had between the pipes in years. Breaking that up to draft a kid who might play in three years feels like panic management. If they move Woll, they solve a draft capital problem but immediately create a massive hole in the lineup that they’ll likely overpay to fix next summer.
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The post Leafs Rumors: Is Joseph Woll on the Trade Block? appeared first on NHL Trade Rumors.
