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Leaf Rumours

Even if he shit the bed with the rebuild, the odds of him trading away the first for Rask, or a 1st for Toskala.....or any firsts at all, is considerably reduced.
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Here's my issue. If I want to rebuild, and my boss tells me no, try and make the playoffs and then I make a deal which a) mortgages our future and b) is also totally garbage for the present... can I really blame my boss? I mean, if my boss is telling me MAKE THE PLAYOFFS THIS YEAR then why the hell not take the deal we know was on the table for a Pronger for Kaberle/Steen swap? Even if Steen is the next greatest thing in the league, you listened to your boss and can fall back on that.

Instead he made deals that were just horrible no matter what your plan was - rebuild or now.
 
msun30 said:
crediting him for a whole boat load of picks that haven't even made the nhl is going a little far.

same with giving him any credit for guys like stralman and gunnarsson.

nobody calls fletcher a drafting genius for picking kaberle in the 8th round.
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Nor did anybody call Ferguson a 'draft genius' here.........but his haul over 4 years is pretty decent, given that he didn't have a 1st or 2nd in two of his 4 drafts.

More importantly, he wasn't a complete abortion at the draft.......that he was at the draft table.
 
hockeylover said:
Here's my issue. If I want to rebuild, and my boss tells me no, try and make the playoffs and then I make a deal which a) mortgages our future and b) is also totally garbage for the present... can I really blame my boss? I mean, if my boss is telling me MAKE THE PLAYOFFS THIS YEAR then why the hell not take the deal we know was on the table for a Pronger for Kaberle/Steen swap? Even if Steen is the next greatest thing in the league, you listened to your boss and can fall back on that.

Instead he made deals that were just horrible no matter what your plan was - rebuild or now.
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Very good point.



Don't get me wrong.....I'm in no way shape or form, trying to argue he was a good GM.
 
JFJ did what many fans actually wanted. Despite the bad results, some people thought our production and talent was good enough, they thought the characters on the team were winners, poor performances by some was blamed on injuries and other factors. Frankly, there was not much need for change in most peoples opinion even though the team was not getting it done.

While a few of us thought, you know what, this team can't stay together. They aren't winners. There is too many players with injury trouble which will guarantee we won't get what we expect. So we can't take that risk. The losing suggests rather the talent was overrated, the performances were, or we had a whole bunch of players with a losing mentality or bad character, and that had to change.

But the second opinion was held only by a few..myself included.

There is a clear similarity between JFJ and the majority of fans during that time. They made excuses for a situation that clearly needed change and as a result he totally f'ed it up.
 
JFJ's legace would have been a lot different if he didn't **** up the goaltending situation so bad...multiple times.

That being said, the Toronto Maple Leafs deserve the best. And he isn't/wasn't anything close to the best.
 
He had just been named the best goaltender at the WJC, was the best goalie in Finland, and widely considered the best goalie prospect in the NHL behind Price.

High.
 
Hindsight is always 20/20, but the value of any 19 or 20 year old goaltending prospect who hasn't stepped on any NHL ice can't be THAT hgih. At the time, Pogge and Rask had similar trade value, and look at where Pogge is now.

And as bad as Raycroft looks now looking back, I must admit he didn't look nearly as bad then. He was coming off a terrible season, which came at the heel of missing training camp due to contract dispute, and then suffered injuries during that poor season too. Prior to that, he won the Calder.

Both goalies were somewhat of an unknown at the time, and it so turns out to be the absolute worst case for us - Raycroft turns out to be a total bust, while Rask turns out to be the real deal.

And while JFJ has nobody but himself (and his goalie scout) to blame, I just want to point out hindsight being 20/20, things didn't look that lopesided then.
 
And while JFJ has nobody but himself (and his goalie scout) to blame, I just want to point out hindsight being 20/20, things didn't look that lopesided then.
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I think we all had the same reaction to it at first which was what the hell? and then we started justifying it - OK, well IF Andrew is good and Rask completely busts, then it looks OK. IF he can regain Calder form, then it looks good. I guess we can't be blamed for hoping.
 
I predicted on the walk into GM Place for the 2006 draft, that JFJ might trade for Raycroft......and me and my buddies actually followed him around the floor of the draft with binoculars and watched him talking with then Bruins GM Jeff Gordon, as they made the deal.

...but even I fell back in my seat CRUSHED.....when they announced that Tuuka Rask was the prospect that we'd dealt for Raycroft.



I'll never forget that moment.
 
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I hated the Raycroft trade the second I heard it. And not because I knew it would turn out so badly, it was because it was such an unnecesary trade. What was the rush to decide between Pogge/Rask? Why not just sign Manny Legace for free? (who wanted to come to the Leafs)There was no point to the trade at all.
 
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