The Unfortunate History of Toronto Maple Leafs Goaltending Decisions

Vesa Toskala

In the spring of 2007, the Maple Leafs had their eye on the promising backup goaltender with the San Jose Sharks. Vesa Toskala had beat out Miikka Kiprusoff to backup Evgeni Nabokov a few years earlier and had proven himself to be a player capable of taking on a greater workload.

Ferguson Jr. decided the best course of action was to make the 30-year-old goalie a Leaf. During the entry draft that June, Ferguson Jr. and Sharks general manager, Doug Wilson, worked out a deal to make that happen. One year after trading for Raycroft, the team wanted Toskala to take over.

The Toronto Maple Leafs sent their 2007 second-round pick, 2009 fourth-round pick, and 2007 conditional first-round pick in exchange for Toskala and Mark Bell. The Sharks used that package to move up in the draft, sending it to the St. Louis Blues for the ninth pick, which they used to select Logan Couture.

The Leafs original slot saw Lars Eller go to the Blues. There is no doubt that if given the opportunity to revise history, the Leafs would void the trade with San Jose and move their pick package to get Couture for themselves.

With Toronto, Toskala never lived up to the hype. He was given every opportunity to succeed, but posted lacklustre numbers.

He played a total of 145 games with the franchise and owned a goals against average of 3.08 and a save percentage of 0.894. His worst number came on March 18, 2008. That’s when Toskala allowed a 197-foot shot to beat him.