Archive for the 'Toivonen' Category
Posted in Transactions, Toivonen, Ex-Bruins July 23rd, 2007
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.
Posted in Toivonen, Rask, Playoffs May 9th, 2007
Well, so much for a prodigy preview in the Providence postseason.
While Hannu Toivonen came within two minutes and nine seconds of a shutout last night during last night’s win, it wasn’t Tuukka Rask watching from the bench, it was still Jordan Sigalet. Today’s Providence Journal clears up matters.
He (Rask) will remain with the P-Bruins for the rest of the postseason, but he’s not going to play, according to Providence coach Scott Gordon. Starting goaltender Hannu Toivonen has been told as much, too.
Rask, whose rights were acquired by Boston from the Toronto Maple Leafs for Andrew Raycroft last summer, has joined the P-Bruins to get himself acclimated to the North American environment in preparation for next season.
Well, I guess that makes sense. You know, give the rookie a tour of the campus, provide him with a security badge, a cubicle and an email account before he starts doing REAL work.
Still. It’d be nice to see him sneak in there for a little while. Maybe during some garbage time (God forbid that happens) to see what he can do.
But enough about Rask, how about that Hannu! A 1-0 shutout going late into the third period, an Oleg Tverdovsky power play goal with 2:09 remaining to tie it up, and then a retaliation power play goal by T.J. Trevelyan a mere 39 seconds later to put the Bruins on top again and to put Providence up two games to one in the series.
Oh Oleg, how far have you fallen? The former #2 overall pick thirteen summers ago and the defensive anchor of my fantasy hockey teams in the late nineties and early “aughts”. Now, you’re playing in Manchester. What a shame.
Posted in Toivonen, Rask May 6th, 2007
Currently manning the pipes in Boston is Tim Thomas, a man whose first name might as well be “34-year old”. He’s got tenure right now, albeit with just 108 games under his “Beware of Bear” mask. He played lights out hockey this season, but it always seems like someone’s breathing down his neck.
Over one shoulder is Hannu Toivonen, who seems to be the prodigal son. He was more or less dubbed the goaltender of the future when taken with the 29th overall pick in the 2002 draft. After showing some promise in ‘05-06 he regressed this season….being more affected by the nightly spray of shots he faced than was Thomas. However, he didn’t go down without a fight. After being sent down to Providence, he’s now helping lead the team in the playoffs. As a result, the Bruins continued to show their faith in him by rewarding him with a one year contract extension.
Over the other shoulder is Tuukka Rask, the OTHER “goaltender of the future” acquired for Andrew Raycroft last year. Similar to Toivonen, he was drafted 21st overall in 2005. After a successful season in Finland, the Bruins rewarded him with a multi-year contract on Saturday.
So how is all of this going to play out? We might find out sooner rather than later. Rask is to join Providence for the duration of the Calder Cup playoffs. My fearless prognostication was that, barring a trade, Thomas and an undisclosed veteran (Joey MacDonald?) would stay in Boston while Toivonen and Rask would have a time share situation in Providence for a BATTLE OF THE PRODIGIES (insert Star Trek fight scene music here). Under this scenario, Toivonen and Rask would both be able to get a decent amount of playing time as opposed to riding the pine in Boston. So, even though the senior club’s season is over, Toivonen and Rask might be giving us a preview of next year is going to look like as soon as Tuesday night.
And to think, most Bruins fans have already mailed it in for this season!
Posted in Transactions, Toivonen April 26th, 2007
Sportsline reports that the B’s signed Hannu Toivonen to a one-year extension Thursday, ensuring that the goalie prospect will have at least one more year to develop in the Bruins’ system.
With Tuukka Rask slated to join the Bruins next year, and with Tim Thomas firmly entrenched as the starter right now, it begs the question of what the goaltending situation is going to look like for next year.
As I mentioned last year (to an onslaught of dissenting opinions), the best situation for the Bruins last year would have been that Toivonen stepped up his game and took the #1 goaltending job from the then 32 year old Tim Thomas. This would have allowed Thomas to either have been decent trade bait or become possibly the best backup goaltender in the league.
Now the Bruins will have a 33 year old goaltender between the pipes and two hot prospects battling over who could be the future franchise goaltender for the Bruins (and, yeahyeahyeah I know Thomas could still legitimately be around for the next five years). The problem is that you need to give your prospects a chance to play. If Thomas was destined to be a backup, then you could have given Toivonen the starts in Boston and Rask the starts in Providence. But now, barring a timeshare situation in Providence, only one of them is going to get significant playing time. The Bruins will probably look for a veteran to back up Thomas.
