Obscure former Boston Bruins: Hannu Toivonen
Most of Hannu Toivonen's short NHL career was spent with the Boston Bruins.
With the early offseason buzz of free agency for the Bruins and the rest of the league in the rearview mirror, the attention turns to training camp as teams fine tune their roster outlook ahead of opening night in October.
Until training camp starts, players, coaches, and executives alike are still enjoying the offseason. That leaves time for more editions of obscure former Bruins players. After tackling forward Jordan Caron previously, we're going to the pipes this time and taking a look at Hannu Toivonen.
Hannu Toivonen was chosen by the Bruins in the first round of the 2002 NHL draft with the 29th overall pick, 28 picks after another former Bruin in Rick Nash. Toivonen came to the U.S. ahead of the 2003-2004 season and spent two years with the Providence Bruins.
He was called up for his debut in the 2005-2006 season and picked up a win in his first start despite allowing six goals to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Toivonen ended the year with a 9-5-4 record with a 2.63 GAA, a .914 save percentage, and one shutout in 20 games.
Three other goalies also tended the crease that season, those being Tim Thomas, Andrew Raycroft, and Jordan Sigalet, who, by the way, only appeared in one game in his career, playing just 43 seconds in a win against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In 2006-2007, Toivonen played 27 games in Providence and 18 in the NHL, going 3-9-1 with a .875 save percentage and 4.23 GAA with the Bruins as Tim Thomas' primary backup and one of five goalies the Bruins used that season.
After that season, the Bruins acquired Manny Fernandez from the Minnesota Wild, and the team deemed Toivonen expendable after that. He was dealt to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Carl Soderberg. Toivonen started 17 games and appeared in 23 in 2007-2008, notching a 6-10-5 record with a 3.44 GAA and .878 save percentage with the Blues.
2007-2008 ended up being Toivonen's last season in the NHL. He played in the AHL, ECHL, and in multiple European leagues for a decade after that, with his last action coming with the Maine Mariners in 2018-2019, appearing in nine games.
Currently, Toivonen is the goalie coach of the AHL Toronto Marlies, set to enter his fourth season in that role after being hired by the team just before the 2021-2022 season. The Marlies enter the season with Dennis Hildeby, Luke Cavallin, and Keith Petruzzelli as goalie options, all under the tutelage of Toivonen.
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