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ANAHEIM — The question now is not when Vesa Toskala will be ready to come back, but when is the best time for him to do so?
Judging from the way he moved in practice yesterday, his second full workout since he was forced out of the lineup with strained groin muscles, and reading between the lines of his non-committal statements on his health, Toskala is ready to go back into the Toronto Maple Leafs' net for the first time since Dec. 22. Now the Leafs have to decide when he will return — tonight against the Anaheim Ducks or tomorrow against the Los Angeles Kings. It is a safe assumption that Toskala will return against either one of those teams rather than waiting until Saturday for the last of the three games on this trip. That game is against the team that traded him to the Leafs during the NHL entry draft last June, the San Jose Sharks, and Toskala wants very much to play against them.
However, it would make no sense to throw a rusty Toskala against the Sharks only to see him lit up by his former teammates. Better he should get one game under his belt first, have at least a day off to see how his body reacts and then face the Sharks.
"We still have to think what is the best thing to do," Toskala said. "We'll see what's going to happen. I'm the only one who knows when it's time to play. I had a really good workout [yesterday]. We'll see how it feels [this] morning."
Related Information
- Anaheim Ducks
- Carolina Hurricanes
- Los Angeles Kings
- Nashville Predators
- San Jose Sharks
- Todd Bertuzzi
- Ryan Getzlaf
- Pavel Kubina
- Corey Perry
- Alexei Ponikarovsky
- Andrew Raycroft
- Alexander Steen
- Vesa Toskala
There are arguments to be made for playing against the Ducks tonight and sitting against the Kings tomorrow and vice versa.
Beating the Ducks, who are the defending Stanley Cup champions, although at 22-17-6 they have not played like it much this season, would be a tremendous lift for the Leafs, who are sorely lacking in the confidence department these days. Their best chance to do so is with a healthy Toskala in goal, playing as he did in the month before he got hurt.
If he plays against the Ducks and wins, Toskala would get his own shot of confidence and a couple of days to make sure everything is in order before facing his old team.
However, the Ducks appear to be hitting their stride right now. They ran up five goals in beating the Nashville Predators on Monday, an indication their offensive struggles are over. It was the first time in seven games the Ducks scored more than three goals.
They are also one of the biggest and nastiest teams in the NHL. With skilled forwards such as Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Todd Bertuzzi, who are all 6 foot 2 and larger, they like to crash the net. The Honda Center would not be the friendliest place for a goaltender coming back from an injury.
Discretion will be the better part of valour if the Leafs let Andrew Raycroft start against the Ducks and send Toskala against the weaker opponent, the Kings, tomorrow.
"Of course I want to face my old teammates, so we'll see how it goes," was all Toskala would say of the above options. "It would be a special game, for sure. We'll see, but I need to be 100 per cent for rest of the season, too."
Leafs head coach Paul Maurice has a new wrinkle for the Ducks. He replaced defenceman Pavel Kubina on the right point of the Leafs' power play with forward Alexander Steen. The idea is to get more movement in the moribund unit by introducing a left-hand shot on the right side.
"We want to put the power play in position where it's not constantly working off the same side," Maurice said. "In order to do that, we need a left-hand shot on the other side. [Steen] has played the point on the power play before [in Sweden], he's very mobile, and if he needs to, he can go back and get the puck.
"We really feel the need to create more motion. We've got to be able to move up both sides of the ice easily. Right now, we're not. We get jammed on the boards. We're very predictable and slow with what we do."
Maurice is also getting rather impatient with left winger Alexei Ponikarovsky. Ever since Ponikarovsky suffered a mental cramp that cost the Leafs a win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 18, he has not registered a point.
"He has to play better," Maurice said.
