Leafs Trade For Andrew Raycroft A Great Deal

On June 24, the Boston Bruins dealt former Calder winning goalie Andrew Raycroft to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the rights to goalie prospect Tuukka Rask.

Rask was Toronto's first round pick last year, 21st overall. An incredibly acrobatic goaltender who more than proved his worth at this year's World Junior Tournament, the sole reason Finland won a bronze medal.

It was inevitable that Raycroft would be dealt. Raycroft had a tough season last year, first with an ill-advised holdout early in the season that saw him miss training camp and then suffering injuries as a result that ultimately cost him his starters job to Tim Thomas who stepped up last season and was outstanding. While Hannu Toivonen showed plenty of promise in his rookie season prior to suffering a season-ending injury.

The surprise is that the Bruins dealt him to an divisional rival like the Leafs,where if Raycroft recovers the form that made him the 2004 Rookie of the Year could see him come back to haunt the Bruins 8 times a season.

This spells buyout for Ed Belfour, whom the Maple Leafs declined to pick up the option, letting the 41-year-old goaltender become a free agent. Belfour was 22-22-4 with a 3.29 goals-against average last season with Toronto and was 93-61-15 with a 2.51 goals-against average in three seasons with the Maple Leafs.

This is the best thing to happen for the leafs, instead of wasting 4.5 million off the salary cap chasing Nabokov or a little less on a free agent goalie like Gerber, they get a proven number one goalie and calder winning goalie in "Razor". Who is much cheaper and frankly, much better at this point in his career than the oft-injured Belfour. "The Eagle" still has some gas in the tank and may be a good addition for a veteran-laden squad headed to toward the Cup.

The Leafs don't lose anything as they still have Pogge, the goalie of the same tournament as Rask, who signed to a 3-year contract just prior to the world junior's . Pogge will likely play for the Marlies in the AHL until he is ready to win the back-up role from either Jean-Sebastien Aubin or Mikael Tellqvist. Finally Ferguson Jr. does something right.

Later,
Kenaz