Joseph Woll exhales after being asked to assess his 2019-20 AHL season.

“In the big picture, it didn’t go the way I exactly wanted it to,” he said.

There’s no denying the 21-year-old goaltender endured a trying rookie season with the Toronto Marlies. His .880 save percentage in 32 AHL games was 48th among 49 goalies with at least 22 games played.

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Nevertheless, Woll believes he is a much better goalie than his recent stats suggest. And just as importantly, so too do the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are expected to name Woll to their taxi squad of players should the NHL season resume play this summer.

“I don’t think, by any means, it was a bad season or a bad experience,” said Woll. “Regardless of the outcome, the experience is really what matters. Especially being a goaltender, having all those experiences in my first year as a pro, a lot of ups and downs and dealing with a lot of adversity, it’s been one big learning experience for me.”

Time on the Leafs taxi squad would be yet another new and unique experience for Woll in a season full of them. But as The Athletic learned through multiple interviews with him throughout the season, Woll’s faith, work ethic and belief in himself have his teammates, coaches, and members of the Maple Leafs front office, not willing to bet against him.

“We have all the confidence in the world in him,” said Maple Leafs senior director of player development, Scott Pellerin.

Resilence and determination have been two of Woll’s defining characteristics going back to his days with the U.S. National U17 team.

In 29 games with the program in 2014-15, Woll posted an .886 save percentage. In 33 games the following year, that number jumped to .918.

“I still show our incoming goalies every year video of (Woll’s) practice habits and how he worked on his game,” said USA Hockey national team development program coach Kevin Reiter. “Whether it was being shot on, his skating in his crease, he wanted to get better. He’s very self-aware. There was a lot of adversity that first year, but he never felt sorry for himself after having a tough (game). He showed up the next day with a smile on his face and wanted to get better.”

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Coming off a pair of strong showings for Team USA in the world juniors, the Maple Leafs selected the 6-foot-4, 200 pound Woll in the third round (62nd overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft. Woll then joined Boston College for the 2016-17 season. His save percentage with them was .913 in his first year and .919 in his third and final year. On March 24, 2019, the Leafs signed Woll to a three-year, entry-level deal.

This past September, Woll won the Marlies backup job after a hip injury — and later surgery— forced 21-year-old Ian Scott out for the season. But almost from the start, Woll struggled with the quicker pace of play in the AHL, and in particular, reading plays as they develop.

“You look at the goalies in the NHL and you see some guys are very elite skaters, some guys are very athletic guys and some guys can’t skate that well,” said Woll. “But the common ground is that they all can read the play very, very well. I think that’s something I’m still working on.”

Pellerin was encouraged however by Woll’s ability to make in-game adjustments as the season progressed.

“He can make those reads, it just takes experience,” said Pellerin.

In looking for a low point to Woll’s season, you could point to the night in early March when he allowed eight goals on 29 shots against the Belleville Senators. But you should guess again, says Woll.

“A fluke game is one thing, but when you play a few bad games in a row, that’s something that can really shake your confidence and can shake at that core belief of who you are,” he said.

It’s why he said being pulled in back-to-back appearances on Dec. 28 and Jan. 3 was a tougher pill to swallow than giving up the eight goals.

To prevent self-doubt from creeping in, Woll turned to Marlies goalie coach Jon Elkin, who helped him shake a dangerous mindset of “you have to be perfect, or play a perfect game, just to win.”

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If Woll played well, Elkin told him so. If he didn’t, Elkin wouldn’t sugarcoat things, either. That honesty helped Woll stay grounded. Just over a week after being pulled in back-to-back starts, Woll stopped 40 of 41 shots in a 6-1 win over the San Antonio Rampage on Jan. 12.

Bounce-back performances like that are one of the reasons why former Marlies goalie Michael Hutchinson believes Woll is different than most young netminders who taste adversity for the first time as a pro.

“His mental game, what I saw with the Marlies, I think he’s ahead of where I was mentally at that age,” said Hutchinson.

Hutchinson cited a Nov. 29 game against the Manitoba Moose as evidence of Woll’s mental fortitude. With the Marlies up by two goals in the third period, and Woll in net, Moose forward Jansen Harkins scored just as the net came off its moorings.

It was ruled a good goal. Hutchinson thought the goal should have been disallowed. As Woll skated to the bench during the next TV timeout, Hutchinson expected to find him to be shaken and perhaps in need of words of encouragement. Instead, Hutchinson noted how calm Woll appeared to be. And so he kept his mouth shut.

“A younger me would have been rattled about that,” said Hutchinson.

Woll held the fort from there, stopping 31 shots in a 4-1 win.

“That’s a big lesson I’ve taken from my first year here,” said Woll. “Some nights you’re going to get scored on. It’s about how you bounce back and have a short memory about that kind of stuff.”

A native of Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, (pop. 11,500), Woll was raised Lutheran and attended a Catholic high school. He says his faith is what kept him centred this year, along with his “understanding that things are bigger than just hockey.”

“I think people get sometimes too caught up in their jobs with their outside life,” said Woll. “Hockey is something I’m passionate about, something I love, but that doesn’t define who I am away from the rink.”

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Marlies forward Scott Pooley, who is also a practicing Christian, developed a friendship with Woll this past season.

“(Woll) believes in his faith, and believes that there’s a bigger picture for him as well,” said Pooley. “He attacks every day as a new day. It’s been up and down, but his ability to re-focus is amazing, and it’s something I admire.”

When the AHL suspended its season in March, Woll returned to his parents’ home in St. Louis and very quickly got back to work. He began 1-on-1 training sessions with a strength coach. The goal was to maintain his mobility and build his core muscles so he could “prop himself up a bit more,” and make himself “bigger” in net

“I have a tendency to get a little too scrunched up in my butterfly, so I think that’s been something I’ve really been working on,” he said.

Woll knows he has to improve. But he also believes the Joseph Woll we saw in the AHL this past season, is not the Joseph Woll we’ll see a few years from now. The Maple Leafs sound confident too.

“His work ethic, his character, and his drive are all unique,” Pellerin said back in February. “We believe in him. We’re prepared to support him. We’ve been really happy with all those intangibles, that are elite.”

If and when Woll joins the Leafs’ taxi squad — there will be no restriction on the number of goalies a team can have on their playoff roster — he says he’ll approach the opportunity just as he has every other new experience this year.

“I think (it’d be) amazing being around that kind of culture,” he said. “At the very least, you’re seeing how this team approaches the game on a daily basis. (It’s) something I can really learn from.”

Looking ahead to next season, Kasimir Kaskisuo is a pending UFA, meaning Woll and Scott could split time in the Marlies net next season. With two more seasons left on his entry-level deal, there is still time for Woll to develop, but beginning next season the spotlight on him will only burn brighter.

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Marlies head coach Greg Moore — who said Woll has the tools to be a “high-ceiling goaltender,” — believes time is what Woll likely needs the most.

“That’s why these players are playing at this level, because they have the ability to deceive and it’s just going to take young goalies time to read through that stuff and improve,” said Moore back in March. “And he will.”

(Top Photo: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)