Posted in Transactions, Toivonen, Ex-Bruins No Comments July 23rd, 2007
Finn-ished: Hannu traded to St. Louis
Today the goaltending situation got a little clearer as former prospect Hannu Toivonen was shipped off to St. Louis for center Carl Soderberg.
Who is this Soderberg guy, you say? Here’s a snippet from hockeysfuture.com who have him listed as the #5 prospect in the Blues organiazation. He was also the 49th player taken overall in the 2004 draft.
Talent Analysis
Söderberg is a very explosive player. He is a good skater and has a powerful stride. With his quick feet he very easily gets around the opponents. He has an accurate shot, has a fine scoring touch and is a good playmaker as well. His hockey sense is top-notch and the way he handles the puck in full flight is very impressive. A strong player with great size combined with good technical skills. Earlier his defense was somewhat questionable but he has become a much better player without the puck.
Even better, he looks frighteningly like Billy Idol.
I guess this was inevitable. With his performance last year and with the acquisition of Manny Fernandez, Hannu really had no shot in Boston this year. That, and with Tuukka Rask as the current goalie-prospect-du-jour, he had a questionable future with the team in general. Without a trade he would have been forced to fight for time in Providence. So right now it appears that it’s going to be Fernandez/Thomas in Boston with Rask probably getting most of the time in Providence.
As everyone knows, I’ve been a Toivonen backer. I’ve always felt he had more of a future than Tim Thomas did as a “franchise” goalie. But, hey, when he needed to step up last year, he didn’t. By placing him in a time share role with Thomas, the Bruins tipped their hand that they wanted one of the two to step up and claim the #1 spot as his own. And, to me, I always felt that the organization preferred Toivonen since he was the high draft pick while Thomas was the “pleasant surprise” in the organization. And with pleasant surprises, you’re happy with unexpected performances but your future expectations are tempered by past performances that may not have been spectacular as the recent past. And with Tim Thomas being a former 9th round pick who kicked around in five different leagues (AHL, IHL, ECHL, Finnish SM-liiga and Swedish Elitserien) for six years before playing in Boston, the expectations weren’t as high as Toivonen’s.
But c’est la vie. Toivonen isn’t the first prospect to fail and he certainly won’t be the last. Since he’s in another division and another conference, I wish him the best of luck.
That is, until the Bruins play the Blues for the Stanley Cup in 2009.
