Photo credit: Maple Leafs on X

The Toronto Maple Leafs have officially demoted Dennis Hildeby following the announcement that Joseph Woll has been activated from Injured Reserve.

The Maple Leafs are slated to host Craig Berube’s former team, the St. Louis Blues, on Thursday evening at Scotiabank Arena. After originally suggesting that Woll would likely not play in Thursday’s game, TSN’s Darren Dreger shared a follow-up report, suggesting that Woll may indeed start against the Blues after all. Now, we have yet another update on Woll, as well as rookie netminded Dennis Hildeby.

According to TSN’s Chris Johnston, Woll has been activated from Injured Reserve and Hildeby has been demoted and will re-join the AHL’s Toronto Marlies.

Hildeby won his NHL debut a couple of short weeks back against the New Jersey Devils, but was absolutely shelled in his 2nd career NHL start in Columbus on Tuesday. The loss should not fall solely on Hildeby’s shoulders, as the team in front of him wasn’t exactly going out of their way to provide any reliable defense, hanging him out to dry and not taking care of the rookie netminder the way they should have.

As far as Woll goes, if granted the start against the Blues (and it appears as though he will be), it will be his first taste of game action this season, as the last time we saw the 26-year-old netminder was in the pre-season finale against the Detroit Red Wings at the start of October.

Woll was originally expected to start the season opener against the Canadiens, but an unexpected injury prior to opening night had forced Woll to the sidelines, resulting in 7 missed games to open the season.