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2006-07 Leafs...miss the playoffs by 1 point

ottomaddox

ottomaddox

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Oct 31, 2017
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This was a very frustrating team and a very frustrating time. JFJ punted Pat Quinn from the leafs org., brought in his choice coach (Maurice), and built a very questionable roster.

Not too long before this time:

"The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Rask in the first round, 21st overall, in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. However, before playing a regular season game for Toronto, he was traded to the Boston Bruins in exchange for former Calder Memorial Trophy-winning goaltender Andrew Raycroft. Toronto management had deemed Justin Pogge their potential goaltender of the future, rendering Rask expendable. It was later revealed the Bruins intended to release Raycroft, which would have made him available to Toronto without having to give up Rask.[1]" - Wikipedia

I know there was a lot of inconsistent play throughout the year, but there was the odd highlight before missing the playoffs.

Does anyone remember this game?

 
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heybuddyhowyadoing said:
This was a very frustrating team and a very frustrating time. JFJ punted Pat Quinn from the leafs org., brought in his choice coach (Maurice), and built a very questionable roster.

Not too long before this time:

"The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Rask in the first round, 21st overall, in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. However, before playing a regular season game for Toronto, he was traded to the Boston Bruins in exchange for former Calder Memorial Trophy-winning goaltender Andrew Raycroft. Toronto management had deemed Justin Pogge their potential goaltender of the future, rendering Rask expendable. It was later revealed the Bruins intended to release Raycroft, which would have made him available to Toronto without having to give up Rask.[1]" - Wikipedia

I know there was a lot of inconsistent play throughout the year, but there was the odd highlight before missing the playoffs.

Does anyone remember this game?

Click to expand...

It was very frustrating how many years of management making short sighted moves and ignoring the draft and development of prospects all for quick fixes.
 
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I remember that season well especially how they closed it out going 9-3 and as you said, missing by a point. Me and the wife were in Vegas for the last week of the season and I found an off-strip sports betting place that showed every game while were there. Wife hit the slots, I watched the games. Good times with a bad ending.
 
heybuddyhowyadoing said:
This was a very frustrating team and a very frustrating time. JFJ punted Pat Quinn from the leafs org., brought in his choice coach (Maurice), and built a very questionable roster.

Not too long before this time:

"The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Rask in the first round, 21st overall, in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. However, before playing a regular season game for Toronto, he was traded to the Boston Bruins in exchange for former Calder Memorial Trophy-winning goaltender Andrew Raycroft. Toronto management had deemed Justin Pogge their potential goaltender of the future, rendering Rask expendable. It was later revealed the Bruins intended to release Raycroft, which would have made him available to Toronto without having to give up Rask.[1]" - Wikipedia

I know there was a lot of inconsistent play throughout the year, but there was the odd highlight before missing the playoffs.

Does anyone remember this game?

Click to expand...


That clip reminds me that Kaberle was of the top guys ever to get fans to scream "SHOOT IT!".

One of the Leaf teams during that era that deserved much better but was let down by bad goalkeeping and/or key injuries.
 
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Zybalto said:
That clip reminds me that Kaberle was of the top guys ever to get fans to scream "SHOOT IT!".

One of the Leaf teams during that era that deserved much better but was let down by bad goalkeeping and/or key injuries.
Click to expand...

It makes you wonder why JFJ bet the house on Raycroft. Everybody talks about how he has the most wins, but that stat was so misleading. If they made the post-season Raycroft would have **** the bed. Did you see how many soft goals he allowed in that key regular season game? JFJ then used his first round pick the following offseason to acquire Toskala. Once again betting the house on him.
 
heybuddyhowyadoing said:
It makes you wonder why JFJ bet the house on Raycroft. Everybody talks about how he has the most wins, but that stat was so misleading. If they made the post-season Raycroft would have **** the bed. Did you see how many soft goals he allowed in that key regular season game? JFJ then used his first round pick the following offseason to acquire Toskala. Once again betting the house on him.
Click to expand...

Yea, Raycrofts .894 save % that year (.891 team total once you factor in the even worse backup performances) just killed us.

The fact the team was even that close to getting in was a testament to how solid the rest of the team was.

For all of the hoopla over the fact they didnt make the playoffs for a decade, it wasnt that the team sucked for much of that time, it was that management completely decimated our goaltending situation for much of it.

Between Belfour and Anderson, I'm not sure we even had an average goalkeeper unless I'm missing someone.
 
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Remember a game from 06/07?
images
 
And for everyone complaining about the Rask for Raycroft trade, a big part of the problem wasn't even the trade itself.

They clearly undervalued Rask, and thought too much of Raycroft. But the trade never happens without the incorrect appraisal of Justin Pogge. Goalies are voodoo, so it's easy to get a projection wrong. But this trade is special because it required that they get it wrong for all 3 goalies involved.

If they knew how good Rask would be, or how (sub?)average Raycroft was, then they wouldn't have made the deal. But they were only willing to give up Rask because they wrongly thought Pogge was going to be the long term guy.

If Pogge had been Rask's equal, then this trade doesn't hurt as bad. But they were wrong on him, too.
 
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Weren't we relying on a Devil's or Islander's win?

I met my wife in the fall of 2006. Legend has it that she cursed the Leafs playoff hopes for a decade.
 
namttebih said:
Weren't we relying on a Devil's or Islander's win?

I met my wife in the fall of 2006. Legend has it that she cursed the Leafs playoff hopes for a decade.
Click to expand...

Devils win.

I remember they tied it with like 10 seconds left in the 3rd. After that, it was downhill. Lol.

Wouldn’t have mattered even if we made it. Buffalo would have absolutely bitch slapped us in the 1st round, especially with Raycroft in net.

A few buddies of mine thought Aubin would have been the starter had we made it, but, I doubt it.
 
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heybuddyhowyadoing said:
This was a very frustrating team and a very frustrating time. JFJ punted Pat Quinn from the leafs org., brought in his choice coach (Maurice), and built a very questionable roster.

Not too long before this time:

"The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Rask in the first round, 21st overall, in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. However, before playing a regular season game for Toronto, he was traded to the Boston Bruins in exchange for former Calder Memorial Trophy-winning goaltender Andrew Raycroft. Toronto management had deemed Justin Pogge their potential goaltender of the future, rendering Rask expendable. It was later revealed the Bruins intended to release Raycroft, which would have made him available to Toronto without having to give up Rask.[1]" - Wikipedia

I know there was a lot of inconsistent play throughout the year, but there was the odd highlight before missing the playoffs.

Does anyone remember this game?

Click to expand...

Why do you want to remember that moron. Nepotism at its worst. Worst trade (top 3 for sure) in Toronto Maple Leaf history.
 
mikeyz said:
Devils win.

I remember they tied it with like 10 seconds left in the 3rd. After that, it was downhill. Lol.

Wouldn’t have mattered even if we made it. Buffalo would have absolutely bitch slapped us in the 1st round, especially with Raycroft in net.

A few buddies of mine thought Aubin would have been the starter had we made it, but, I doubt it.
Click to expand...

Yup. And the Devs didn't start Brodeur (understandable but they still need to pay for that). I also remember we all assumed the Devils would mail it in and in some ways they did but John Madden was almost out saviour and had an awesome game.
 
qqaz said:
And for everyone complaining about the Rask for Raycroft trade, a big part of the problem wasn't even the trade itself.

They clearly undervalued Rask, and thought too much of Raycroft. But the trade never happens without the incorrect appraisal of Justin Pogge. Goalies are voodoo, so it's easy to get a projection wrong. But this trade is special because it required that they get it wrong for all 3 goalies involved.

If they knew how good Rask would be, or how (sub?)average Raycroft was, then they wouldn't have made the deal. But they were only willing to give up Rask because they wrongly thought Pogge was going to be the long term guy.

If Pogge had been Rask's equal, then this trade doesn't hurt as bad. But they were wrong on him, too.
Click to expand...
They probably went with Pogge because he was the goalie for Team Canada and had a solid tourny meanwhile if I remember correctly Rask in that same tournament was given the MVP. Plus Rask was a high 1st round pick. We gave up on him way too early. Still pisses me off to this day that we could've had a top 5 starter for 10 seasons. Plus he's my favourite goalie.
 
Underneath the hood, this team wasn't half bad, and probably deserved a playoff birth. However, some of the league's worst goaltending kept them out of the playoffs. Even just league average goaltending probably would've easily vaulted them into a playoff position. They still had a legitimate super star in Sundin, and plenty of good depth pieces, and a good PP unit (something even more crucial in the early post-lockout days with PPs galore). Obviously the core itself was rotting, and not something to continue building on, so perhaps it was merciful this team missed out.
 
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acrobaticgoalie said:
They probably went with Pogge because he was the goalie for Team Canada and had a solid tourny meanwhile if I remember correctly Rask in that same tournament was given the MVP. Plus Rask was a high 1st round pick. We gave up on him way too early. Still pisses me off to this day that we could've had a top 5 starter for 10 seasons. Plus he's my favourite goalie.
Click to expand...
The story goes that Rask played 1 horrible game for Finland in his only start at WJT which JFJ saw. and he was best player on a terrible Finnish team but his save % was always good and he kept team in games. Pogge was ok on Marlies but not good never a game saver. JFJ saw Pogge all da time and Rask once in a bad game. Clearly he had no idea what he was doing. Thank god we don't make those kinda uninformed judgments anymore.
 
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acrobaticgoalie said:
It was very frustrating how many years of management making short sighted moves and ignoring the draft and development of prospects all for quick fixes.
Click to expand...

There's no defense for how badly he botched the goaltending situation, but coming out of the lockout JFJ reportedly did want to rebuild and was blocked.
 
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Zybalto said:
Yea, Raycrofts .894 save % that year (.891 team total once you factor in the even worse backup performances) just killed us.

The fact the team was even that close to getting in was a testament to how solid the rest of the team was.

For all of the hoopla over the fact they didnt make the playoffs for a decade, it wasnt that the team sucked for much of that time, it was that management completely decimated our goaltending situation for much of it.

Between Belfour and Anderson, I'm not sure we even had an average goalkeeper unless I'm missing someone.
Click to expand...

Id suggest Reimer would qualify as average.

Not a guy a team could rely on to steal wins but seemed fine as far as 1Bs or 2As go.

But regardless thr post Belfour seasons were pretty dark as far as goaltending go. Will always have a soft spot for Eddie too
 
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Touching on my post above I blame ownership way more than JFJ for our post lockout struggles. He undeniably f***ed up, but he f***ed up while trying to execute a borderline untenable strategy when he knew he should be doing something else.

If they had've gone along with the rebuild mandate (looking only at top 6 type assets)
Things we did trade but wouldn't have
Tuuka f***ing Rask
2008 2nd rounder (Perrault)
2007 1st rounder
2007 2nd rounder

Things we didn't trade but would have-
McCabe (rental 2006) 1st+
Sundin (2006 draft) 1st+ top prospect +
Tucker (2007 rental) 1st +

The 06, 07, and likely 08 1st's would have all been slotted higher...
 
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