joesph a leaf

[slowandeasy]

I was a fan of Cujo when he wore the Blue and White. But the buyout of Raycroft combined with Cujo's return - albeit a speculation at this time - makes no sense to me.

Raycroft might not be a starting goalie but he is a competent backup, IMHO, particularly for a non-contender, which the Leafs are going to be for the next couple of years, if not longer. Bringing Cujo in might help to win a couple more games - a meaningless achievement, at bets.

Fletcher is beginning to show traits of "change in the name of change" without demonstrating a clear, viable, plan of rebuilding the Leafs for the better. I hope he is not making his decisions under the "toxic" influence of Peddie, for the sake of media and boardroom politics.

Interesting post.. I have feelings along these lines. I had thought the goal was to get younger, and/or suffer thru this year, reduce the salary cap numbers, look towards another good draft, etc.. . If this was the plan, why bring in Cujo? I kind of understand why they would buy out Raycroft... but why not give Clemensen a chance in the bigs. He has earned it. Why buy out Tucker? Crack the whip on him early in the season, and then hope to trade him.

I am/was not one who subscribes to the theory that you tank games so that you can get a higher draft pick.. But looking back at the Leafs season now, I cannot help but be annoyed with the management... First they dragged their ass on firing JFJ.. Then they allow that bit of motivation and energy to build up so that the Leafs can win a few meaningless games, just enough to move themselves too high up the draft. Then they fire the coach!!!!

As Bugs Bunny would say: "what a maroon"...

 

[slowandeasy]

Wow top 10 eh ... He started off horrible and in the last week he lost games of 2-6 and 2-8 ... Only one shoot out victory in 2 years .. Save percentage ranking in the high 20's and goals against in the 30's ... Top 10 is being very kind ... Maybe cause we have been spoiled with Eddie and Cujo it takes a lot to impress me ..

This year we will see if better coaching can improve his goaltender stats ..

Guy... I did not have time to check out the other goalies stats in the league and compare with Toskala, but off hand, I cannot think of that many goalies that had better years.. There are 30? teams in the league... I figured that Toskala probably belongs somewhere in the second tier (or ranked 11 - 20th). But again, I did not do any research...

 

[slamtart]

It's the in thing to do in TO sports teams: bring back Fletcher, bring back Cito, bring back Cujo. Who's next? Damon Stoudamire for the Raptors as a backup

Jays need George Bell back in LF and Jesse Barfield back in RF

 

[shack]

Wow top 10 eh ... He started off horrible and in the last week he lost games of 2-6 and 2-8 ... Only one shoot out victory in 2 years .. Save percentage ranking in the high 20's and goals against in the 30's ... Top 10 is being very kind ... Maybe cause we have been spoiled with Eddie and Cujo it takes a lot to impress me ..

This year we will see if better coaching can improve his goaltender stats ..

He got off to a very bad start. I think he was much better in the second half once he settled in and was firmly ensconced as the #1.

 

[new2game]

um....did you watch this slug play last year???

Raycroft might not be a starting goalie but he is a competent backup, IMHO, particularly for a non-contender, which the Leafs are going to be for the next couple of years, if not longer.

Gee....he was 2 wins and 9 losses...yep a real competent backup. He certainly was a main part of the problem with the Leafs, some of his own doing by playing poorly...partly because the GM at the time JFJ had to save face, and forced the coach to have this 25-30 game regular season audition to see who the starting goalie would be..I thought that's what pre season was for ... I guarantee you that Raycroft has seen his last game in the NHL...


N2G

 

[lawyerman]

Gee....he was 2 wins and 9 losses...yep a real competent backup. He certainly was a main part of the problem with the Leafs, some of his own doing by playing poorly...partly because the GM at the time JFJ had to save face, and forced the coach to have this 25-30 game regular season audition to see who the starting goalie would be..I thought that's what pre season was for ... I guarantee you that Raycroft has seen his last game in the NHL...


N2G

The whole Raycroft issue was just plain stupid. I agree that the GM was sticking his nose in it early on but the blame is not entirely Raycroft's. The team played like total crap. They traded for Toskala to become the number one goalie (no-brainer) so why would they put in the number two guy to start the season? JFJ didn't want to look bad because he signed Raycroft to a three year deal and wasn't bad in his first year but not particularly great.

To make himself not look bad, he had to put Raycroft between the pipes. Raycroft did win 37 games the year. I just don't understand when they acquired Toskala, why wasn't Raycroft bought out then? They could have bought out the finaly two years of his contract and saved one-third of his salary which would have meant 1.4 million dollars in savings. JFJ was a horrible GM and obviously not ready for prime time. The length, value and clauses in some of the contracts that were signed under his direction should have been vetoed or altered by MLSE.

 

[new2game]

Well Lawyerman...

The whole Raycroft issue was just plain stupid. I agree that the GM was sticking his nose in it early on but the blame is not entirely Raycroft's. The team played like total crap. They traded for Toskala to become the number one goalie (no-brainer) so why would they put in the number two guy to start the season? JFJ didn't want to look bad because he signed Raycroft to a three year deal and wasn't bad in his first year but not particularly great.

To make himself not look bad, he had to put Raycroft between the pipes. Raycroft did win 37 games the year. I just don't understand when they acquired Toskala, why wasn't Raycroft bought out then? They could have bought out the finaly two years of his contract and saved one-third of his salary which would have meant 1.4 million dollars in savings. JFJ was a horrible GM and obviously not ready for prime time. The length, value and clauses in some of the contracts that were signed under his direction should have been vetoed or altered by MLSE.

...I really have very little to disagree on here....except the team didn't play very well...but a good to great goaltender would bail his team out every so often. In his whole time as a Leaf, I only remember 2 games where he bailed his team out...it was sometime in Feb 07 on a trip through Florida..he stole games from Tampa Bay and the Panthers, he was named star of the week. Other than that, Raycroft was average to poor....not good enough for any Leaf team, let alone the ones of recent times...

 

[slowandeasy]

To make himself not look bad, he had to put Raycroft between the pipes. Raycroft did win 37 games the year. .

Anyone know how many games Toskala won last year?

 

[The Fruity Hare]

Anyone know how many games Toskala won last year?

Fantasy Analysis
It has been an up-and-down season for Toskala in Toronto. He recorded 33 wins for a team that was expected to struggle all year, but if he were still on the Sharks, he could have possibly won 40-plus games. Toskala is a good netminder, but is only worth using as a No. 2 Fantasy goalie because of his surroundings. The Maple Leafs TG is also a low-end Fantasy option.
(Updated 03/29/2008).

 

[slowandeasy]

Fantasy Analysis
It has been an up-and-down season for Toskala in Toronto. He recorded 33 wins for a team that was expected to struggle all year, but if he were still on the Sharks, he could have possibly won 40-plus games. Toskala is a good netminder, but is only worth using as a No. 2 Fantasy goalie because of his surroundings. The Maple Leafs TG is also a low-end Fantasy option.
(Updated 03/29/2008).

Something keeps bothering me about people's view of Raycroft.
GP G A P Min GA EN SO GA W L T Svs Pct
72 0 1 8 4108 205 8 2 2.99 37 25 9 1726 0.894 Ray 06/07
66 0 5 4 3837 175 7 3 2.74 33 25 6 1649 0.904 Toskala 07/08

We were supposed to have a better team last year than in 2006/07. We had a coach with one more year experience, players who had played together, etc.. yet Vesa's stats are only marginally better than Raycroft's. Raycroft played in 6 more games, but had 4 more wins, the same amount of losses and 3 more ties...

I have nothing against Vesa. I think that he is a very very sound player and will probably have a much better season next year... However, the results don't seem to justify the villification of Raycroft...

 

[jimmyt]

Makes a lot of sense. I have heard the rumouors for a couple of years now that Joseph was going to return to the Leafs in a public relations/goaltending conultant type of thing. I think Pogge needs one more season of 60 plus starts in the A, so if Curtis takes 20 or 25 starts to help out Vesa, he'll then stay on with the club in a non-playing capacity of some sort.

I heard that Fletch spent most of the day on Sunday at Josephs' King City farm.

 

[yaya17]

Curtis Joseph will sign with the Leafs on Tuesday as free agent.

nice early call rocky2000

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2008/07/01/leafs_joseph/

 

[Tower]

Jays need George Bell back in LF and Jesse Barfield back in RF

Sure! Get Lloyd Moseby back too!
Only thing is, they may not allow the players to use their walkers!

Do I ever miss Jessie's throwing arm from right field though. He could really nail those guys sliding into home.