Joseph Woll ProRead 11
With Joseph Woll
Why Anchor LegKeys Reverse (+ How To Be Patient In It)
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Joseph Woll recently signed a three-year, $11-million extension with the Maple Leafs, which when added to the remaining season on his existing bargain contract for just $766,667 means the 29-year-old will be in Toronto for four more seasons.
Which means we have plenty of time to roll out more of his often-brilliant video breakdown sessions in a Maple Leafs jersey, but we didn’t want to waste any more getting back to Woll for another Pro Reads entry from our extended in-season sit-down.
THE SCENARIO
This time Woll is facing a top-10 ranked power play of the Minnesota Wild that featured plenty of great passers and a lot of purposeful movement away from the puck:
That last line about passing might have tipped you off, but with Matt Boldy holding the puck near the top of the right faceoff circle in the screencap above, what do you see as the biggest threat? Is it a pass – and if so, to who and where? Or is it a shot?
What do you make of Woll’s positioning relative to the screen?
One second later, with the puck still on Boldy’s stick, has your anticipation changed? What do you notice about how Woll has adjusted his position? Any thoughts on why?
THE SAVE
Of course, we mentioned at the top there is a lot of movement on the Minnesota power play, including the screen, which we could see in the freeze frames above. So, watch as this plays out in real time below, perhaps pausing to ask yourself the same questions from above:
Did you correctly anticipate the pass across to the far side? Did you think it was coming earlier in the sequence, and then get surprised by it when that lane appeared to close off?
Either way, what did you make of how Woll managed it?
What keys did you identify to how he handled it?
Given the time and space that Kirill Kaprizoz had on the back side, would you have tried to take ice and come out towards him? Can you see any reason he wouldn’t have?
THE PRO READ
Now let’s check in with Woll to get his answers to all those same questions:
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- Woll breaks down his save against Minnesota's top-10 power play, specifically defending a cross-ice pass from Matt Boldy to Kirill Kaprizov with a screen in front.
- Woll explains how he tracked purposeful movement away from the puck to anticipate the pass, rather than reacting after the puck moved across.
- Woll details why he held his depth instead of aggressively pushing out toward Kaprizov despite the time and space on the back side.
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