Honestly I have not been a fan of what I've seen of Woll in the AHL. Albeit I do not watch every game. I have seen a fair amount though, and I do feel comfortable being able to provide my assessment of him.
I really feel like Woll has always struggled to track the play at the pro level. It seems like he is a fraction of a second late on those bang-bang plays that leads him to need to make a more athletic save vs. a positional save. I think a lot of those goals that went in last game were eerily similar to what Freddy would let in last year. Which ironically, I felt they shared the exact same critique. A lot of the goals that go in against Woll you can make a case for being "unstoppable", but in actuality if he reads the play just a 1/10th of a second quicker, he would have a better angle to make that save.
From a raw ability/athleticism standpoint, he's got the tools.
My assessment of the 4 GA on saturday:
1. Tough break off the lively boards. Hard to tell if he could have played that any differently. He actually made a really strong athletic play towards the net in recovery and nearly made the save. I think he probably would have liked to start his push off towards the goal line the very moment the puck squirted wide. He obviously didn't know where that puck was going to bounce out to, but tracking back to the line is the safe play regardless. It's that split second decision that he didn't make that made a skinner save almost impossible. Tough break, and would have been a tough save regardless, but I think Woll can tighten that up a bit.
2.Bad turnover, great 1T through traffic. Woll needs to come out a bit more to give himself a better chance on that play. I just don't think he's used to guys taking shots like that in the A TBH. If you look at the replay, by the time skinner makes that dish out to Thompson, Woll isn't even set. Almost felt like he wasn't expecting the 1T. Again, tough save, but he could have played it better for sure with a better read off of the skinner dish, and knowing he's got a shooter in the high slot.
3.Terrible turnover, bang bang play, great dish by Thompson, skinner is all alone, Not many goalies making this save.
4. Woll loses his twig, you can tell he is flustered the entire time. A goalie losing his stick is like a boat without a rudder. I know he ended up with a players stick, but the puck literally squirts in right where the shaft would have meet the paddle on a goalie stick. Who knows if his blocker was too low or too high on the players stick shaft, which caused the hole the puck went through. It's alot easier to just run your blocker hand right down the shaft until it hits the paddle. Without the paddle there is no referance point.. Still a puck he's gotta find a way to save, but I think he makes that save with ease if he has his own twig.
All n all, He's got the raw abilities, but he needs to track the play a bit better IMO. To me, he reminds me of a Freddy/Reimer hybrid. His reaction time is Reimer like (ie. not good), and his flexibility and athleticism is Freddy like.
I like the call to give him a game, and I'd like them to run him as the backup until Petr comes back. This is great exposure for a young tendy. He still has a long way to go IMO, but goalies just take forever to fully develop. It still is really too early to tell if there is something there. All the tools, but will he ever find the toolbox, that's the real question
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