According to Steve Buffery of sunmedia, “Even if The Monster decides to haunt some other NHL locale next season, the Maple Leafs definitely will not bring back veteran goaltender Curtis Joseph. “Great service as a Leaf,” Burke said yesterday of Joseph. “But we are moving on”…
It’s not really a big surprise that Cujo is moving on (likely to retirement…) with the Leafs in rebuilding mode again this season but what is surprising is the the fact that they won’t be retaining restricted goaltender Justin Pogge.
June 24, 2006 The Toronto Maple Leafs traded for Andrew Raycroft of The Boston Bruins giving up highly touted prospect Tuukka Rask. At the time they had 2 young goaltenders and they chose Justin Pogge as the future of the franchise.
The problem is Raycroft was brutal most nights and was bought out of his contract last season. As for Pogge, he struggled but I believe Toronto should have brought him up more often last season to try and get him playing at a time when most of the fans and media expected them to lose and the pressure was low. Hey, they might even have a top 5 pick or a shot at Tavares…
The point is you either have to win big or lose big in the NHL. If you let the kid play maybe he finds his confidence and you have a young goaltender to build around. If not, at least you finish low enough to secure a top pick in the up-coming draft where you could draft another young goaltender to potentially build around.
Nobody is suggesting you lose on purpose but I am suggesting to stop playing it safe. Play the young players and let them grow. They might lose most nights but they’re losing most nights now and have been for years but unfortunately there’s always 5-7 teams losing more and getting the top picks. As in life, mediocrity breeds mediocrity…
Rask has already played some decent games for The Bruins and it will be interesting to see just how bad the goaltending decision made 3 years ago (made by none other than JFJ himself) will haunt The Leafs.