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Vesa Toskala (born on May 20, 1977 in Tampere, Finland), is an ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the NHL's San Jose Sharks.
Early career
Toskala was selected by San Jose in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft (4th round, 90th overall). The Sharks also took fellow Finn Miikka Kiprusoff in the fifth round. Toskala turned heads with his stellar play in the 1998-1999 season with Ilves Tampere of SM-liiga, where he went 21-12-0 with a 2.14 GAA and a .916 save percentage and posted five shutouts. The next season, playing a style that modeled after Markus Korkonen he played with Färjestads BK of the Swedish Elitserien and posted an impressive 2.59 GAA. In one game with Färjestad, Toskala scored a goal. At this point, Toskala was not sure if he wanted to have a career in hockey. Wanting a more stable job, he was going to quit hockey altogether to go to school full-time, before San Jose enticed him to North America.
North American career
In his first season in North America in 2000-2001, he played with the Kentucky Thoroughblades of the AHL. Splitting time with second-year-pro Kiprusoff, he played 44 games, going 22-13-5 with a 2.77 GAA and a .911 save percentage, quickly adapting to the North American game and played three games for Kentucky in the playoffs. The next year, after the team's move to Cleveland he took over the starting role after Kiprusoff was recalled to San Jose, and in 62 games went 19-33-7 with a 2.99 GAA and a .912 save percentage. That season, he was often the only bright light on a terrible team, and he led the entire league in games played and saves made (1,845). When Kiprusoff fell to injury, Toskala was called up to back-up Evgeni Nabokov. Toskala received ten minutes of playing time in his first stint in the NHL, where he stopped the two shots he faced.
In the 2002-03 NHL season, Nabokov and San Jose could not settle on a contract and Toskala served as Kiprusoff's backup. When Kiprusoff faltered, Toskala stepped in and played admiringly well, going 4-3-1 with a 2.35 GAA and a .927 save percentage. He earned his first shutout in a 25-save-effort against the Detroit Red Wings. When Nabokov was re-signed, Toskala was sent back to Cleveland, and he struggled going 15-30-2, with a 3.21 GAA and a .903 save percentage. Nonetheless, the Sharks brass remembered Toskala's stellar play in the big league, and at the end of the season, they recalled Toskala, meaning the Sharks now had three goaltenders on their roster. Since Nabokov was the established starter, Kiprusoff and Toskala fought for the backup position, and Toskala won the battle when Kiprusoff was traded to the Calgary Flames. When Kiprusoff enjoyed tremendous success in Calgary, leading them to the Stanley Cup finals, many believed that since San Jose had picked Toskala over Kiprusoff, Toskala could be even better. That season, playing in 28 games, Toskala went 12-8-4 with a 2.06 GAA and a .930 save percentage. He did not play in the playoffs.
Current Season
His role for most of the 2005-2006 season had been primarily as the backup to Nabokov. However, that season proved to be a career year for Toskala. The month of February 2006 began inauspiciously for the Finnish goaltender, with his record at 5-5-2 after a shootout loss at home to the Minnesota Wild on February 2. Beginning with his next start, however, on February 8 in San Jose against the Chicago Blackhawks, Toskala went on a tear, posting a record of 17-2-2 in leading up to the Sharks' April 12 road victory against the Vancouver Canucks, thereby clinching a Stanley Cup playoff berth. During this period, Toskala's goals-against-average dipped from 3.25 to 2.55, while his save percentage increased from .872 to .900. Toskala's stellar play earned him several accolades and awards, including the NHL's Defensive Player of the Week on March 27 and April 10, and relegated Nabokov to the role of backup goaltender.
On February 27, 2006, the Sharks re-signed Toskala to a two-year contract extension worth US$2.75 million.
In Game 2 of the first round of the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Toskala posted his first playoff victory by shutting out the Nashville Predators. Toskala finished the playoffs with a record of 6-5 and admirable GAA (2.45) and save percentage (.910) numbers.
However, in Round 2 of the playofffs, Toskala's heroics in Round 1 were all but forgotten. This started when the Sharks, with a 2-0 lead in the series against the Edmonton Oilers and a 2-1 lead in Game 3 at Edmonton, let in two goals (a late third period shot from Raffi Torres and an overtime centring shot from Shawn Horcoff in overtime) to cut the Sharks' lead to 2-1.
In Game 4, also in Edmonton, Toskala's performance began a study decline. This became very clear when he made a very bad error; during the second period and the Sharks barely leading by a lone goal, Toskala came out of the goal crease to make a clearing pass to a teammate during the ending seconds of a San Jose powerplay. As the penalty expired the penalized Oiler, Sergei Samsonov, bounded out of the penalty box and ran into Toskala as he made the pass. Seeing an opportunity, Samsonov slammed the puck right into an open net. This error from Toskala cost the Sharks the hockey game, 6-3.
In Game 5, Toskala proved very poor again, giving the Oilers another 6-3 victory. With the Oilers holding the series lead and San Jose facing elimination, the Shark's head coach Ron Wilson gave Toskala one last chance in Game 6. It was a deadly decision on the part of Wilson. The Oilers won Game 6 in a shutout, 2-0.
Awards
- 2001-2002: The Hockey News AHL Mid-Season All-Rookie Team
External links
- Vesa Toskala on nhlfinns.com
1977 births | Finnish ice hockey players | Living people | National Hockey League goaltenders | San Jose Sharks players | Färjestads BK players
"Vesa Toskala"