Maple Leafs activate Joseph Woll ahead of game vs. Blues

Toronto Maple Leafs' Craig Berube says Joseph Woll's return from the IR ahead of the game against the Blues was planned with the team.

Joseph Woll is on track to make his season debut Thursday night.

The Maple Leafs activated the goaltender from injured reserve ahead of a home game against the St. Louis Blues.

Woll was in line to start the season opener for the Maple Leafs but was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. He missed seven games with Anthony Stolarz starting five of them.

“He’s been obviously progressing in the right direction for some time now,” Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube told reporters after practice. “We kind of had this day picked out that he would get this start. It’s just basically making sure he’s ready, comfortable. Everybody’s on board with him ready to go and this is where we picked.”

Berube added: “Listen, injuries happen. You can’t control. It’s disappointing, he was disappointed for sure. He had a good camp and (was) ready to go. Disappointing on his part and ours, I mean, but that’s part of the game. You’ve got to deal with it and he’s dealt with it in the right way.”

Dennis Hildeby, who started the other two games Woll missed, was assigned to the AHL in a corresponding move.

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