page_title: Vesa Toskala
section_title: Toronto Maple Leafs
hierarchical_section_title: Vesa Toskala / Early career / Toronto Maple Leafs
caption_attribution_description: English: Vesa Toskala suited up in a game for the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 10, 2008
context_page_description: Vesa Tapani Toskala is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender.
  After initially playing for his hometown team in Ilves of the SM-liiga, Toskala played the majority of his career in the National Hockey League for the San Jose Sharks, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Calgary Flames.
context_section_description: On June 22, during the 2007 NHL Entry Draft weekend, Sharks general manager Doug Wilson traded Toskala and forward Mark Bell to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for the club's 2007 first (13th overall, Lars Eller ) and second round draft picks, both of which were later traded to the St. Louis Blues, as well as Toronto's fourth round pick in 2009, which was eventually traded to the Nashville Predators.
  The Toronto Maple Leafs subsequently signed Toskala to a two-year contract. He and goaltender Andrew Raycroft shared starts until late November, when Toskala's GAA and save percentage improved dramatically. He recorded two shutouts in December and the NHL named him best goaltender of the month.
  On March 18, 2008, in a match against the New York Islanders, Toskala suffered an embarrassing blunder. On a Leafs power play, defenceman Rob Davison of the Islanders attempted to clear the puck out of his defensive zone. Taken from 197 feet, the shot bounced five times before eventually bouncing over Toskala's glove and into the net. It was only Davison's third goal in 187 career games.
  In the 2009 NHL regular season opener on October 9, 2008, the official scoresheet between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings listed Toskala as the Maple Leafs captain. Coach Ron Wilson stated that the scoresheet was a mistake.
  On March 4, 2009, Toskala announced that he would be undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a torn acetabular labrum. The Maple Leafs claimed goalie Martin Gerber off of re-entry waivers to replace him.
  For the first game of the following season, on October 1, 2009, Toskala was the Maple Leafs starting goaltender in an overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Toskala would lose his first four starts before being replaced as the Leafs' starting goaltender.
  In late 2009, a prank he pulled on interviewer Zdenek Matejovsky received coverage from Finnish news and 424 000 views on YouTube (note: the original video was removed). Matejovsky, who doesn't understand Finnish, had been hired by the Finnish TV channel MTV3 to interview Toskala in English and have him respond in Finnish, but Toskala instead made a joke out of it and responded to the serious questions with humorous, unrelated answers. Matejovsky continued with the businesslike questions while having no idea what Toskala was saying.
caption: Vesa Toskala suited up in a game for the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 10, 2008
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