From Friday's Toronto Star:
"[Vesa] Toskala revealed yesterday he tweaked his groin in Calgary on Nov.11 and played the rest of the season injured until he finally had a pair of surgeries, one to repair his hip, the other his groin. He's got about 10 weeks of rehab still to go."'I started doing more exercise a few days ago, things are going well,' said Toskala, who added he wouldn't have had the surgery had Toronto been in the playoff hunt."'At that time, we were 10 points out and it didn't make any sense to keep playing,' he explained. 'I felt I could play and I think I played all right. I wasn't 100 per cent.'"
So, between November 11th, when Toskala was hurt, and March 3rd, the final game he played this season, Curtis Joseph and Justin Pogge started nine games. In a rebuilding year, Ron Wilson's Toronto Maple Leafs trotted out an injured goalie night after night, after night, after night.
Why? Who allowed this?
It's ridiculous. And unbelievably frustrating. Joseph should have played a hell of a lot more. And if the Leafs didn't have enough confidence in him, or Pogge, they should have went out and acquired another goalie. God knows a full season of Joseph and Pogge would have ensured the team a lottery pick in the draft. (Toskala's unreal February totally killed that flex.)
It's true: since 2004, the Maple Leafs can do nothing right.
My only hope is now that Brian Burke is in charge, the inmates are no longer running the God damn asylum.
8 comments:
You're absolutely right; that is ridiculous. This was a rebuilding season, and Toskala's long-term health should have been the priority. Even if they didn't shut him down completely, they should have at least given him more time off.
so what you're saying is...Toskala tweaked his groin back in November...when it mattered?
/ducks
If this IS Cujo's final season, it would've been nice to see him go out with a little more 'gusto', something more heroic. Though he made the choice on the Leafs. He had to forecast an ending like this.
I don't see a problem with playing Toskala like they have. So he wasn't 100% healthy but enough to be cleared by team doctors. No one will do something to harm or damage a 4M asset. If Toskala played, its because he believed he could and it didn't bother him enough to warrant him not playing. Even way back in oct, nov when he had a crappy game he always began his post game interviews with "I feel good" and/or "nothings wrong" which I noticed was an odd way to begin an interview considering he was never asked about his health or injury.
Andrew: That's the point; if the injury wasn't deemed serious enough to shut him down, he should have at least gotten some more rest. Wilson trotted him out there way too much, and regardless of anyone says, that's got to make things worse.
LD: Yes. Exactly!
Norman James: Agreed, buddy. It's been a tough season for him. Ideally, and I wrote as much, he would have retired after that epic piece of relief-goaltending against Washington a couple of weeks ago. He was lights out coming in from the bullpen.
Puckbuddy: We'll have to agree to disagree. There was no need for a less than 100% Toskala to be playing. Period. And look at his stats. Regardless of what he says, and how good he was feeling, his stats tell the story; his stats are pathetic. If you didn't have a problem with him playing, you don't have a problem with his whorish statistics. And I do. A big problem.
Just makes it hard for Leaf fans to actually support their team anymore. Management or coaching staff can't even bench an injured goalie. The more I look at it, it seems the Leafs organization just doesn't understand the concept of winning. Putting a goalie out there that is injured and knowing that it was a rebuilding year from opening night. BS!!!
On The Fence Sports
Well Gerber has played out of his mind a couple times already this seaon so maybe we should be glad we didn't pick him up earlier.
Let's look on the bright side (though I was really pissed reading that too) LA has done their job and won. All we need is for OHX and the Sens to win. Go 'Yotes Go!
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