Raycroft...do we give him a chance??

[jimmyt]

If you look at almost all of the legendary goalies, as well as the ones that are excelling in the league now, they have one thing in common...they do not often mature and have thier best years until they are in thier 30's. Roy, Brodeur, Belfour, Joseph, even Bower, Sawchuk etc all had their breakout years in thier 30's.

We have seen Raycroft play like the abovementioned goalies for a game or two or three, then let 8 blow past him, usually at home.

Can a young (26) guy with only 3 seasons under his belt be expected to take the pressure of Toronto and immediately become the next Cujo or Eddie? Is this a realistic expectation?

I just wonder if he gets run out of town if this will come back to haunt us in a few years when he plays every game like last week in Tampa or Florida.

I think what we need is a Cujo type guy to bring him along and be an influence and hopefully take him where he has the potential to go.....

What say you terbite hockey fans?

 

[Brownie69]

I think he has lots of potential. But I think that the trade for him wasn't good for the Leafs. Consider this:

1) If you have to invest 2 or 3 yearts to see his potential then you have a problem when Pogge is ready in 2-3 years. Raycroft is a stop gap measure until Pogge is ready. We don't need a goalie with potential, we need a goalie that can be consistent right now.

2) Legacy was available and is now playing very well for St. Louis. We didn't have to give up Rask for him and we would have had two stud blue chip goalies in the system still. One of which will definately pan out as the furture goalie.

3) As a tie in to 1) and 2). We were looking for someone that would fill the role until our goalie of the future was ready. If you had to trade Rask, and with a solid goalie in the market that you could sign, why not trade Rask for another commodity that we need, i.e. a winger.

Raycroft may become a very good goalie once he matures, but he wasn't the best move for this team given their situation in the offseason.

Putting that aside though, Raycroft deserves a shot and the fans are a bit hard on him at times.

 

[Neverenuff$]

If he stays with the leafs .. he won't develop.. he'll burn out The leafs don't produce steller goalies they get them just before their "sell by" date , then get thrown on the scrap heap ...

 

[gladheateher]

JFJ and Raycroft - get rid of both of them

 

[Hockey_MLnut]

Toronto only gave up the first round pick Rask because Rask himself was not certain what he was going to do play in the NHL or stay with the Army in Finland. Since he wasnt sure the leafs got rid of a potential head ache.

On the other hand he could turn out to be extremely good in the NHL for Boston.

 

[blueline]

You're wrong on this. Except for Johnny Bower who didn't really start playing in the NHL in his 30s, these other goalies were great right from the start. Their breakout years were in their 20s.

Brodeur won his 1st cup in only his second full season in the mid 90s while in his mid-20s.

Patrick Roy won his 1st cup in his rookie season as a 21 year old.

Ed Belfour, in his rookie season, notched 43 victories in 74 games (both NHL rookie and Blackhawk team records), finished the season with a 2.47 GAA and 4 shutouts and received the Calder Memorial Trophy and the Vezina Trophy.

Terry Sawchuk won his 1st Stanley Cup for the Wings in 1952 as a 23 year old. In each of his first five years in the NHL, he led the league in wins.

Leaf fans will remeber a young 24 year old Curtis Joseph playing for St. Louis in the early 90s who was a one-man wrecking crew against the Leafs in several playoff seasons. Gilmour somehow managed to rally the troops to get the Leafs past him & the Blues. But Joseph's reputation was forged then.

Get your facts straight before you try to make a point. Legendary goalies are great right from the get go. Raycroft is average at best. He doesn't single-handedly win games for his team. He lets in soft goals. If he's getting paid millions to play goal, then he should play like a million-dollar goalie.

You can add Tony Esposito to the list. 15 shutouts in his rookie season. Also, Ken Dryden had his best years in his 20's. In fact he only played til he was 31-32 years old.