He’s the all time franchise leader in every offensive category for the Calgary Roughnecks.  He set the franchise mark for goals in San Jose on January 9th, and then took the assists and points mark last weekend in Calgary’s 16-9 win in Toronto.  And yet, for a guy who has done everything possible for this Roughnecks team, Kaleb Toth is still focused on what matters.

Just to get the numbers out of the way, entering Saturday’s home game against the San Jose Stealth (7:30 pm, FAN 960 and www.FAN960.com), Toth has 468 career points with Calgary (215 goals, 252 assists).  Overall for his career, Toth sits with 553 points.  Toth of course spent his first 2 NLL seasons with the Toronto Rock.

I chatted with Kaleb this week, and that interview will be part of our pregame show starting at 7 this Saturday.  When he set the mark for goals, Toth wasn’t even aware of the milestone he just reached.  He was only a little bit more aware of the assists and points record which he set last weekend…only because he had been notified he’d set the goal record!

Toth was acquired back in 2002 at the NLL Entry Draft in a deal that sent Blaine Manning and a 1st round pick the other way.  It was interesting to hear Kaleb tell the story of how things transpired for that trade to go down.  He had enjoyed 2 very successful seasons in Toronto, but upon hearing of the upstart Riggers, went to management and asked for a trade.  Why not?  He’s a born and raised Calgarian, and this was a real opportunity for him.  They told Toth they wanted the best for him and the team, and eventually the trade got done.  I asked him what it was like to be the face of a franchise right from the beginning.  “I was really nervous,” was his response…safe to say, he’s done a pretty damn good job.

No question Toth is very honored by the milestone, but his focus really is directed upon things totally opposite of individual achievements.  In his words, “it doesn’t matter about points as long as we get the milestone we’re looking for, and that is the win.”  And while that gets said by everyone under the sun after individual accomplishments, you know it’s legit coming from Toth.  “Team player” is the ony phrase you can use when talking about #9…he’s played every game this franchise has ever played (except 1, which he doesn’t like to talk about), and has been a great ambassador for the team.  And yeah, he missed that 1 game.  But how many other guys would have taken it the way he did…as a true team guy.  He saw it as a wake up call, and went about his business after getting back in the lineup.

The other thing that struck me when talking to him today was just how important the buy-in is on this team.  With Toth, Kelusky, Malawsky, Dobbie, Ranger, Sanderson and so many other guys who can score, there needed to be a plan.  They all got together in the offseason and to a man, the consensus was “we don’t care who scores, as long as we score as many as we should.”  Well, when you get 3 guys potting hat-tricks against Toronto, I think you can see what they’re talking about.

So, while Toth is honored by the accomplishment and his milestone, he also has his eye on the real prize.  3-0 is the best start in Roughnecks history, but the job isn’t done.  5 points or 55 points the rest of the season, it doesn’t matter, as long as Kaleb can help the Riggers return to the top of the mountain.

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