Vesa Toskala - Broken Shell of A Goaltender
December 23rd, 2008 by Steve
Despite wins in 4 of his past 6 starts; despite his “winning” record; despite his status as the Leafs number one netminder; Vesa Toskala is far from where he should be as an NHL player.
He is making $4 million a year to keep the puck out of the net for the Leafs, and he’s doing an amazingly poor job of that recently.
In tonight’s matchup with the Dallas Stars he allowed 7 goals on 27 shots. That means in his past three starts, the top goalie for the Leafs has allowed 14 goals on 61 shots. That’s good enough to earn him a very, very, very crappy .770 save percentage. Only one other regular starting net-minder has had a string that atrocious in the NHL this season, and he was facing Toskala tonight.
Earlier this season, Marty Turco had a three game stretch in October where he allowed 14 goals on 59 shots (.762). In his past 4 games, Pascal Leclaire of the Blue Jackets has allowed 21 goals on 104 shots (.798), and he’s played his way into the position of backup goaltender for Columbus. I went through every goalie in the NHL that has started 10 games… NO ONE ELSE has played that poorly in 3 consecutive starts. Not one.
Before anyone defends Toskala against my horrible criticisms, and argues that the Leafs as a team have played a poor game defensively in front of him… they should consider the fact that I’m including ATLANTA, THE NEW YORK ISLANDERS, DALLAS, ST. LOUIS, LOS ANGELES, COLUMBUS, and every cruddy NHL franchise so far this season in my analysis. They’ve ALL played pretty bad defensively in front of their goalies, and I sincerely doubt that the Leafs have been alarmingly worse, especially when one considers the number of shots they’ve given up, and the number of shots they have been blocking.
Oh and there’s another major issue with Toskala’s game that is getting WORSE. Not better. Goals against within the first or last minute of a period. During the first month of the season, it happened twice. He let in a goal in the first minute of the second period against the St. Louis Blues, in a game where the Leafs had a 3-0 lead, and eventually lost 5-4 in OT. He let a goal into his net in the last minute of the game in the Leafs’ first game against Ottawa where the Sens scored late to make the game 3-2, though it remained a Leaf victory.
In November Toskala let it happen three times. Once to the Blackhawks, once to the Flames, and once to the Rangers. The Leafs lost the Chicago and Calgary games. Now into December he has let it happen FIVE times in ten games, against the Penguins, Devils, Bruins, Coyotes and Kings. This is a worrisome trend when the main issue for Toskala according to both his coaches (and me) has been his focus. In the past, Toskala has had a disturbing tendency to lose focus at times over the course of the season. The up and down nature of any season is bound to include pitfalls, but trip ups of this magnitude and with this regularity should not sit well with a player of his caliber.
The debate is currently raging amongst most of Leafs nation as to whether or not Pogge should have been given a second consecutive start in light of how well he played in Atlanta. I personally fall on the side of those that would argue in favour of riding the hot hand of Pogge. His youthful energy and ability to make the big save may have lent some drive to his team-mates on an evening they needed it. Toskala obviously lacked whatever urgency would be necessary to overcome his current issues.
Curtis Joseph is no longer a servicable NHL backup, and Toskala is playing his way out of a starting gig anywhere in the NHL. If he’s not careful, he might be demoted to a similar status as Andrew Raycroft.
Posted in Game Analysis, Player Analysis, Stat Analysis
14 Responses to “Vesa Toskala - Broken Shell of A Goaltender”
By Dan
on Dec 24, 2008
Your frustration with last nights game shines through. But I don’t think a lot of those goals were his fault. Back door plays, rebound after rebound… those are defensive miscuings not goalie problems. It was also a back to back game, and 4th in 6 nights. Lets not judge his entire season on a couple of games. I agree his numbers have not been great, and sure I’d rather have Luongo or Price in there, but we don’t and I also think Burke is aware of the situation and looking at solutions. First things first, he’s got to move or remove Cujo, who’s in way over his head, at least Toskala’s decent on half the nights he plays….
By general borschevsky
on Dec 24, 2008
Excellent post. I was thinking last night that maybe Toskala is not cut out to be a starter. It’s good to be cool under pressure, but guys like Eddie, the old Cujo, Felix, Patrick Roy, were all competitive as hell. Vesa seems to lack the selfishisness that might sometimes prevent a complete meltdown. When it’s 5-0 and your coach leaves you in there it’s time to show you’re pissed.
By Gerald Norton
on Dec 24, 2008
In goaltending terms, the Leafs are in tough. If Toskala fails to perorm, you’re left with the two potential evils. Play Cujo, who has looked ready for retirement, not the NHL, or risk having Pogge get shell shocked, and impede his development.
My bet is that Burke is happy to find out now that Toskala is not up to the task, and is far from upset about the team losing. In fact, the more the fans turn on Toskala, the easier it is to move him without any backlash.
In the long run Toskalas poor performance is probably a good thing.
By Homer
on Dec 24, 2008
Bring up Munroe. That’s why he’s there. He’s our Clemmonson this year. There’s a reason why NHL teams have farm teams. Ours is in the same city, not that far to drive. Let’s start bruising a few egos! When I saw Vesa blowing bubbles and snapping his bubble gum on the bench I could have put my foot through my TV(and I love my TV!).
By Steve
on Dec 24, 2008
Dan you missed this I suppose?
Before anyone defends Toskala against my horrible criticisms, and argues that the Leafs as a team have played a poor game defensively in front of him… they should consider the fact that I’m including ATLANTA, THE NEW YORK ISLANDERS, DALLAS, ST. LOUIS, LOS ANGELES, COLUMBUS, and every cruddy NHL franchise so far this season in my analysis. They’ve ALL played pretty bad defensively in front of their goalies, and I sincerely doubt that the Leafs have been alarmingly worse, especially when one considers the number of shots they’ve given up, and the number of shots they have been blocking.
We can just ignore the fact that Toskala is playing with a defense that is probably no worse than the other crappy teams in the NHL and just blame the team incessantly? This despite the fact that his numbers are as bad, if not worse, than almost every starter in the NHL?
How do we keep doing that? How do you defend crap? Consistent crap? Take your head out of the sand already.
I’m not suggesting the Leafs replace him with CuJo, or that they need a Luongo or Price. I just think everyone needs to recognize that the main problem this team has at this point in time is goal-tending.
If they ever find a quality goalie, they might be able to tell what they’ve got, but I honestly don’t think Toskala is that goalie. They should be trying OTHER options, and CuJo could be the starter for a couple of games, to see if he can figure it out with more consistent starts. They could call Pogge up for a few games to let him get more of a taste. One start against Atlanta is pretty far from “testing” the kid.
Either way, Toskala has been getting progressively worse. I had hoped earlier this month that he had turned the proverbial corner, and he’s gone and crapped the bed on us.
By WildWolfdog
on Dec 24, 2008
Not only was this the Leaf’s 4th game in 6 nighs - it was actually their 5th in 8 nights. So you can imagine how tired they would’ve been.
Plus this was a back to back while Dallas was rested and ready. The way the Leafs (and Toskala) have played the past few games, I’m willing to give them a mulligan for last night.
By Steve
on Dec 24, 2008
“The way the Leafs (and Toskala) have played the past fews games, I’m willing to give them a mulligan for last night.”
Ummm 14 goals on 61 shots in his past 3 starts and you think he deserves a mulligan?
Let’s try to remember the fact that he was really bad in Boston, and he was worse against Dallas, and he didn’t exactly light the world on fire against Pittsburgh, so much as the rest of the team ran up the score.
He played well against Buffalo and New Jersey… over a week ago.
I’m not buying the whole 5 games in 8 nights thing. They lose games when they play 6 games in 15 nights… what’s the excuse then? Not ENOUGH games?
There’s no point in making excuses. The team did not play well, but Toskala didn’t help matters. His rebound control was just horrible.
On a more positive note, I bet people are wishing the Leafs had tried to get James Neal like I suggested months ago.
By Dan
on Dec 24, 2008
Spin, it’s all about the spin. Sure, 14 goals in 61 shots in his past 3 starts.
Or… 3 wins and 1 loss in his last 5 games he played… or 21 goals against in his last 7 games… or 14 even strength goals against in his past 7 games….
Please don’t try to spin stats like that…. sure he’s played awful along with the team the past 3 starts, but if you look back over the past 7, things don’t sound that bad… And sure he was brutal before that, but it’s the same as how you spun his past three games, leaving out the positive 4 games prior to that…. .936 save % isn’t that bad….
So where does that leave us? I don’t think it’s fair to think that he is as bad as 14 goals on 61 shots, or as good as .936 save percentage and a 4-2 record over his past 7 games…
This season, Toskala has had 11 games where the opposition has scored 4 goals or more. Brutal games, if you will. 19 games with 3 or less goals against. And 14 of the 19 have been 2 or less goals against. So 14 games with 2 goals or less, and 11 with 4 goals or more.
Compare this to Kipper, who is 19 and 10 this season, who has had 10 games with 4 or more goals…Miller who has had 7 of these starts
Obviously Toskala’s stats are not very good, and leave me wanting more, but more often then not, he gives them a chance to win.
By the way, crap was Raycroft last year… and Cujo this year…. so watching Toskala is a blessing compared to that crap.
By Mike
on Dec 24, 2008
Not all Toskala’s fault but make a save already. Not just the easy ones. I’d rather one weak one go in and all( most)of the tough ones made. Were more likely to win that way. Ken Dryden made a living off it. Pogge scouting report has this bad goal and lapses in concentration as the reason he’s still with the Marlies, but just win. I’m not saying Pogge over Toskala but one thought I had while watching the Atlanta game was how many times Atlanta missed the net on scoring chances ( no stat to back it up just a perception) and maybe it was just when you go to shoot against Pogge his size makes the holes smaller and the shot needs to be that much more accurate and it ends up high or wide.
By Steve
on Dec 24, 2008
It’s all spin?
3 wins and 1 loss in the last 5 games he’s played? He was PULLED in 2 of those games. He didn’t register the loss against Boston because he wasn’t in the net when the winning goal was scored. It’s 3 wins and 2 losses. In the 3 wins he made 69 saves on 75 shots, for a .920 save percentage. In the 2 losses he made 27 saves on 38 shots for a .711 save percentage. Overall he had 96 saves on 113 shots for an .850 save percentage in 5 games. That isn’t AVERAGE. That isn’t “ok”.
I’m not “spinning” anything when I say his numbers have been atrocious. They have been. I’m not leaving OUT the good games. I’m just not excluding the bad ones… which seems to be your desire on this one.
He hasn’t had a .936 save percentage over his last 7 games. I’m not sure how you think save percentage is calculated. His save percentage over his past 7 games is .877 (150 saves on 171 shots = 150/171 = 0.87719) - WHICH IS REALLY BAD. Especially when you include the fact that he won 4 of those games.
You’re also ignoring the number of times Toskala has played badly enough to be pulled this season - 4 times. Kiprusoff? He’s been pulled once. Miller? He’s been pulled twice. Oh and Miller? He’s had 15 starts with 2 goals or fewer, and he’s started 2 less games than Toskala. And he’s had 4 shut outs already. Toskala’s had 1.
I wouldn’t hold Kiprusoff up as a target for how good I want or expect Toskala to be. He has a good record because Calgary has more offense than the Leafs. They boast Iginla, Bertuzzi, Langkow, Phaneuf, Camalleri, Conroy, Aucoin, Glencross, etc. They’re a bit more veteran team than the Leafs.
I realize I should perhaps rein in my problems with Toskala’s play a bit, especially since he is our only viable option. But I find it frustrating when people continually insist how great he is when there are no consistent results to back it up.
His save percentage wasn’t even that good in San Jose. Wins are a team stat, not a goaltender stat. He’s AVERAGE at best over his career, and in Toronto he’s been capable of solid play with a lot of hiccups to go along with it. He isn’t worth $4 million a year, and he shouldn’t be with the club long term.
By Dan
on Dec 24, 2008
lets see…. 110 shots against, and 103 saves….= what? .936 in my books. This is the stats for the 4 games prior to the 3 losses. I never said or meant to imply the full 7 games.
Other than that I don’t want to get into a pissing match with you because I respect this column too much. I don’t like to have discussions escalate where the conversation isn’t healthy. With that, I wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Years and look forward to your columns in the new year. Great job this year!
By Steve
on Dec 24, 2008
Yeah, it is the Christmas Season and all…
Merry X-Mas everyone, thanks for the readership and all that. Look forward to hearing from you all in the New Year.
Hopefully the Leafs goaltending improves.
Have a good one.
By scotty
on Dec 24, 2008
First of all: Merry Christmas. Secondly, for whatever reason I haven’t had as much confidence with Vesa this year as I did last year when he was 100% healthy. I have no way to back this up: but what if the team feels the same way? In the past 10 years, Leaf fans and players were accustomed to their goalies “stealing one” on a fairly regular basis. Even if those goalies (Cujo and Eddie) didn’t have league leading stats, the fact that they could outplay every other player on either bench had to have helped the confidence of the team. Currently, this is not the case. Toskala can make miraculous saves on a regular basis, but his lack of focus seems to keep him from doing it for a full 60 minutes. There could be many reasons for this, but I’m not sure competitiveness is the problem. Kipper behaves similarly to Vesa after letting in goals. Maybe Vesa should flip out from time to time when scored on even if he’s just pretending. Maybe it could help the team. Who really knows? What I like about Pogge is his size, which alone can make saves that the goalie has no business making. Combine that with reflexes and positioning and you’ve got a star in the making. I figured Burke would trade Vesa this year, but with his current play what can he really get for him in return?
By Glenn
on Dec 28, 2008
Steve, you have a reasonably good column but man do you jump on guys who differ from your opinion. Lighten up man. You come off as having to be right all the time.
Like I said before, Tosky is a non issue in Toronto other than his trade value. I hope he plays better so the Leafs can get full value in a trade, that’s about the only reason I care.
As for seeing what this team has, nobody should care what their record is this year, as they are in full rebuild mode. As a matter of fact, next years record won’t matter much either. The only thing a good goalie will do is improve their record.
By the time the Leafs have the team Burke wants he will find a goaltending solution that works, and that won’t include Toskala.