Hannu Toivonen

Hannu Pekka Toivonen (; born 18 May 1984) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender. He is the current goaltending coach for the Toronto Marlies. He played with the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues in the National Hockey League (NHL), the former of which drafted him 29th overall in the 2002 NHL entry draft. Toivonen also spent several years with the Tampereen Ilves of the Liiga in his home country.

Although Toivonen was widely considered to be a top goaltending prospect, he was injured in 2005–06 and never regained the form that made him a first-round selection in 2002.

Playing career

Professional Toivonen started his pro career with HPK in the Finnish SM-liiga. He was drafted by the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 2002 NHL entry draft, and moved to the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League (AHL) in 2003.

With Andrew Raycroft sitting out due to a contract dispute, Toivonen started the 2005–06 NHL season as the Bruins' backup goaltender. He made his NHL debut on 8 October 2005 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, coming away with an overtime win. He holds the distinction of allowing the first goal of Sidney Crosby's career in that game. On 1 December 2005, he recorded his first NHL shutout, blanking the Ottawa Senators. Toivonen was 9–5–4 with a 2.63 GAA and a .914 SV% before suffering a high ankle sprain in January that effectively ended his season.

At the beginning of the 2006–07 season, Toivonen and Tim Thomas were competing for the starter spot. After a rough start at the beginning of the season, Toivonen was sent down to Providence and was replaced by Brian Finley on 7 November 2006, officially making Thomas the starting goaltender for Boston. Over the course of the next couple months, he was repeatedly recalled to Boston and sent back down to Providence. On 2 April, he was recalled to Boston for the last two away games, then sent back to Providence on 6 April. On 26 April 2007, Toivonen signed a one-year contract extension with the Bruins.

On 23 July 2007, Toivonen was traded to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Carl Söderberg. Upon being traded to the Blues, Toivonen was reunited with former Bruins teammates Brad Boyes, Ryan Glenn, Yan Stastny and Derek Gustafson. In the 2007–08 season, Toivonen played in 23 games with the Blues before he was assigned to the Peoria Rivermen, the Blues' AHL affiliate, on 11 February 2008.

Toivonen spent the 2008–09 season with Ilves in Finland, but re-signed with St. Louis on 9 June 2009. He was then assigned to the Blues' farm team in Peoria on 21 September 2009, for the beginning of the 2009–10 season. On 1 March 2010, Toivonen was traded from St. Louis to the Chicago Blackhawks, along with Danny Richmond, in exchange for goaltender Joe Fallon. All players involved in the trade remained with their respective AHL affiliates.

Toivonen signed a two-year contract with the Malmö Redhawks of the HockeyAllsvenskan on 1 July 2011. In the 2011–12 season he played in 19 games, averaging a .895 save percentage (SVS) and 3.30 goals against average (GAA). However, due to economical crisis in the Redhawks club, Toivonen was forced to leave the club after the 2011–12 season. His contract is being paid out by the Redhawks.

With the commencement of the 2013–14 season under-way, Toivonen joined the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL on 11 November 2013.

On 11 April 2014, Toivonen returned to Finland to sign a contract with newly promoted Liiga club, Vaasan Sport.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP W L T OTL MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% 2000–01 HPK Jr. B — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 2001–02 HPK Jr. B 5 4 1 0 — 277 14 0 3.03 — — — — — — — — — 2001–02 HPK Jr. A 31 15 12 4 — 1878 103 2 3.29 .911 7 3 4 440 31 0 4.23 .903 2002–03 HPK Jr. A 6 3 3 0 — 359 20 0 3.34 .919 — — — — — — — — 2002–03 HPK SM-l 24 16 2 4 — 1432 54 2 2.26 .911 2 1 1 117 3 1 1.53 .927 2003–04 Providence Bruins AHL 36 15 16 4 — 2162 83 2 2.30 .921 — — — — — — — — 2004–05 Providence Bruins AHL 54 29 18 3 — 3017 103 7 2.05 .932 17 10 7 1038 42 0 2.43 .923 2005–06 Boston Bruins NHL 20 9 5 — 4 1163 51 1 2.63 .914 — — — — — — — — 2006–07 Providence Bruins AHL 27 13 13 — 1 1618 64 2 2.37 .909 13 6 7 742 36 0 2.91 .897 2006–07 Boston Bruins NHL 18 3 9 — 1 893 63 0 4.23 .875 — — — — — — — — 2007–08 St. Louis Blues NHL 23 6 10 — 5 1202 69 0 3.44 .878 — — — — — — — — 2007–08 Peoria Rivermen AHL 11 6 4 — 0 627 33 0 3.16 .883 — — — — — — — — 2008–09 Ilves SM-l 56 19 23 9 — 2913 130 3 2.68 .910 3 1 2 198 6 1 1.82 .939 2009–10 Peoria Rivermen AHL 26 11 11 — 3 1516 69 0 2.73 .906 — — — — — — — — 2009–10 Rockford IceHogs AHL 5 1 4 — 0 296 17 0 3.44 .883 1 0 0 20 1 0 3.00 .800 2010–11 Rockford IceHogs AHL 49 21 16 — 4 2463 119 3 2.90 .907 — — — — — — — — 2011–12 Malmö Redhawks Allsv 19 — — — — 1054 58 1 3.30 .894 — — — — — — — — 2012–13 Orlando Solar Bears ECHL 11 2 7 — 0 565 37 0 3.93 .888 — — — — — — — — 2012–13 SaiPa SM-l 8 2 4 2 — 462 22 1 2.85 .900 — — — — — — — — 2013–14 Toledo Walleye ECHL 31 12 17 — 1 1826 103 1 3.38 .905 — — — — — — — — 2013–14 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 4 1 1 — 1 120 5 0 2.50 .909 — — — — — — — — 2013–14 Iowa Wild AHL 1 0 1 — 0 40 8 0 12.00 .680 — — — — — — — — 2014–15 Sport Liiga 45 13 23 6 — 2577 114 1 2.65 .918 — — — — — — — — 2015–16 Ilves Liiga 46 13 24 8 — 2600 106 4 2.45 .907 — — — — — — — — 2016–17 Ilves Liiga 32 8 16 7 — 1814 75 2 2.48 .913 — — — — — — — — 2017–18 Graz 99ers EBEL 32 — — — — 1809 105 0 3.48 .902 — — — — — — — — 2017–18 Odense Bulldogs DNK 4 — — — — — — — 4.60 .848 3 — — — — — 3.75 .879 2018–19 HIFK Liiga 1 0 0 0 — 1 0 0 0.00 — — — — — — — — — 2018–19 Maine Mariners ECHL 9 5 3 — 0 506 28 0 3.32 .900 — — — — — — — — SM-l/Liiga totals 208 71 76 36 — 11,799 501 13 2.55 — 5 2 3 315 9 2 1.71 — NHL totals 61 18 24 — 10 3258 183 1 3.37 .890 — — — — — — — —

International Year Team Event GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% 2002 Finland WJC18 5 242 9 1 2.23 .930 2004 Finland WJC 6 4 2 0 357 11 1 1.85 .920 Junior totals 11 — — — 599 20 2 2.00 —