For better or for worse, Jose Theodore is gone. Colorado didn’t want to pay $4.5 million a year. Washington did, and that’s that. There was some talk today that the Avs would end up with Cristobal Huet, but that turned out to be false (and thank goodness - Huet went to the Blackhawks for a whopping $5.65 million per year).
Instead, the Avalanche signed Andrew Raycroft to a 1 year, $800,000 deal (a significant cut from the $2.2 million he was scheduled to make this year before the Leafs bought him out). Raycroft is a bit of a low-cost gamble for the Avs. He could end being a steal, or he could end up…hey, how about that Peter Budaj.
Personally, I like this deal. There wasn’t much on the free agent market worth the moola, and so I’d rather see Giguere take a flyer on a guy like Raycroft than overpay someone like, say Alex Auld. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the one-year deal for Raycroft puts the Avs in perfect position to make a bid for Buffalo’s Ryan Miller next summer. Miller is reportedly close to John-Michael Liles and his contract is up next year, so let the hysteria commence.
Getting back to Raycroft, Sean from Down Goes Brown asked me today for my take on new Maple Leaf Jeff Finger, and I asked him to do the same for Darcy Tucker and Andrew Raycroft. I’ll spare you from his first response about Raycroft (hint: it rhymes with “he trucks”) and instead share his more detailed response:
I figured I’d start this post off by saying something positive about Andrew Raycroft. So here goes: he looks good in a baseball cap sitting at the end of the bench. A lot better than he looks in the crease during an actual game.
Before coming to Toronto, Raycroft had played two full seasons in Boston. He was great his first year, winning the Calder, and brutal the second. Leafs John Ferguson Jr. gambled that he could find his game again and dealt top prospect Tuuka Rask for him before the 06-07 season. Of course, being Ferguson, he was wrong.
In his first year in Toronto Raycroft was the undisputed starter and put up decent numbers, including setting a team record for wins in a season. His stats were misleading, though, as he never seemed comfortable in Toronto and was prone to giving up shaky goals that would deflate the team. He was particularly weak high to the glove side, and by the end of the year teams were beating him clean from faceoff circle regularly.
His career as a #1 goalie in Toronto essentially came to an end during the last game of the 06-07 season. With the Leafs playing Montreal and a playoff berth on the line, he was brutal. He gave uo three early goals, including one horrible one through his glove, and was pulled. After the game he seemed to shrug it off as no big deal. He pointed to his wins record as evidence of a solid season, but fans weren’t buying it and they started to turn on him.
Last year was a complete writeoff. He lost the starter’s job to Toskala early, he was awful when he did play, and by the end of the year he was glued to the bench even though Toskala had a shaky groin and probably shouldn’t have been playing. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say he may have been the worst goalie in the league last year.
There was really no way that Raycroft could have come back to Toronto in any meaningful role. Despite what you may hear, Leaf fans rarely turn on their own. But when they do, they’re brutal, and Raycroft was the #1 target these days. He became a symbol of John Ferguson era, and seeing Rask playing well at the NHL level only made that worse.
In fairness, it’s not his fault that Ferguson made a terrible trade, and he handled his backup status with class the whole year. He’s definitely a guy who needs a change of scenery, and I’d love to see him succeed in Colorado. He’s a cheap gamble, but I just can’t see it paying off. He’s just not good enough to be an NHL goaltender right now.
So, there you have it folks. I think we all understand the bottom line: one more year of baseball cap jokes!
Lots of question marks in my mind. Last summer I had high hopes for the team. I really thought, at least on paper, we were a Stanley Cup contending team. Then no one seemed to click, the injuries started coming, Theo was crap, Q was a mad man, etc, etc.
Now what do we have? Essentially last years team, minus Finger, Sauer, Theo, and Bruno. Q replaced with… something, two or three 4th lines, etc, etc. If you were Sakic would you come back to this team?
I’m hopeful but not optimistic about our playoff chances for next year. Maybe everyone clicks, no one gets injured, Sakic has another 100 point season, Foppa comes back and plays 60 or so games… stranger things in the NHL have happened.
RJ, you’re forgetting our defense. I would consider Foote and Salei an upgrade to Skrats, Sauer and Finger.
Not to mention Raycraft’s name is easy to mkae fun of (or praise)
I loved the World of Raycraft jokes already circulating today, and there’s always “Ray-craft: puck evader” (play on Laura Croft: Tomb Raider”
Plus easies like Raysoft. Yes the goalie taunts just got gloriously better.
This signing would only make sense if it was April 1.
After his play over the past three seasons, I was stunned that an NHL team would actually take a flyer on Andrew Raycroft.
I wish you and your team all the best, but as a Leaf fan I’d have preferred the team played with six skaters and left a jersey tied to the net than put Raycroft between the pipes.
If I was a betting man, I’d wager that he’ll be playing for Lake Erie Monsters or even the Johnstown Chiefs by February…
I thought he played well in his first season in TO. He was coming off an injury to his knee (the kind that is supposed to take a year or so to get back into shape) and put up solid numbers behind a team that was pretty wretched after the first line. He finished the season on a low note, and the vultures that are the TO media and fans settled in for a long summer feast.
JFJ in his infinate wisdom decided that the fans were going to leave in droves (right….) and threw him under the bus with the Toskala trade. Nobody thought that Raycroft was going to be the starter. He would platoon with Toskala at best according to the pundits. Why would he want to show anybody anything in Toronto. He sets a franchise record for wins, and then gets thrown to the wolves. And fans in TO are shocked when some player complain about the pressure that accompanies the Maple Leafs.
We took a flier on Theo a few years ago, and it took 2+ seasons to pan out. We were hoping for an elite goalie with that deal. They are taking a flier on Raycroft for a year. We’re hoping for a decent backup to Boots. The ceiling is much lower, and so is the price tag. Maybe Hackett still has some magic left.
The only problem with a hope that the Avs future includes Ryan Miller - who is, by the way, amazing to watch in goal - is that Buffalo has already opened up contract extension negotiations with him. Their stated intent is to keep Ryan in Buffalo for a very long time.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242092
Mike @ MHH Not to belabour the point, but you may want to double-check your stats.
Raycroft put up craptastic numbers in his 37 win season. He was 36th in save percentage (an abysmal .894), 32nd in GAA and needed to play in 72 games to hit the 37 win plateau - a winning percentage that’s just a shade over .500
It’s hard to believe, but he was even worse last year with a save percentage dipping into the .870s and a GAA approaching 4.
For his sake and the sake of the Avalanche, I hope your goalie coach can rehabilitate him, but after seeing two seasons of Raycroft getting beat on routine shots and looking horrible in the process, I really have my doubts.
At least it’s only a one-year deal…
mf37.. Me and my father in law used to call Theo ‘The Jersey’.. hehe
Dashing. Yes Foote and Salei are great signings, but they were with us at the end of the year already. So in a sense I guess they are some what of an upgrade over last year, but not completely.
Yeah, I’m just saying that having them with us for the entire year SHOULD be a big improvement for our D.
How was the defense in Toronto?
BTW it’s 10:53 MST on the 2nd and it’s quiet in free agency…too quiet. No Hossa, Naslund, Morrison, Peca, Sundin yet.
the defence in toronto wasn’t the greatest, but you’ve got to have some confidence in your goaltender, and RAYCRAP made sure that wasn’t going to happen. his routine of giving up weak goals killed any confidence his teammates could have in him, and it showed in their body language.
Raycrap sucks. I absolutely cannot believe he got another job in the NHL. It is mind-boggling. He clearly did not possess the mental strength to play goal in Toronto, and not many can. With that said, maybe he can survive in a place like Colorado. But I’m not convinced, nor would I put money on it. I don’t think he’s an NHL-calibre goalie. His save percentage proves it.
Whatever they’re smoking in the front offices of the Avalanche, I want it.
Raycroft will forever be Raycrap. Good riddance, and may he do a whole lot better for you than he did for us.
mf37,
You are correct about his save percentage being sub-par. He did face the 8th most shots for any goalie that year, but a quick calc of shot’s per game puts him right in the middle of the pack for starting goalies. So I can’t argue that. GAA is a meaningless statistic for goalies because it doesn’t reflect how good/bad the team is in front of him. I said it before, and stats not withstanding, I don’t think he’s the empty jersey that everybody in the highly fanatical TO media and fanbase make him out to be. This is the same group that has tried to get rid of Mats Sundin for like 5 years in a row! Why is it everybody is so quick to blame every loss on him, but never lay any of the wins at his feet. Say what you want about the number of games it took to get to a franchise record, it’s still a franchise record.
I think he’s a young goalie with confidence issues who was playing on a rebuilt knee in front of probably the most pressure-indicing crowd on a nightly basis. Getting kicked to the curb by management one year after arriving didn’t help.
That being said, last year was wretched. But he had no reason to play well. NOBODY believed in him. I’ve read some comments from his goalie coach about his play, work ethic, and attitude and I haven’t heard anything but good things. I’ll withhold judgement until I get to see him play regularly in Denver with his ex-teammate Hackett as his goalie coach. I think I can be a little more unbiased about his time in Toronto because I don’t bleed Blue-and-White.
The thing about Raycroft in Toronto was that sometimes he’d be brilliant, in good position, making great saves and then… whiff. He really had a knack for letting in goals at exactly the wrong time, kind of the opposite of a clutch play. I think the term deflating is perfect. I really wanted to like him (as a player) but every time I thought I’d give him another chance he’d drive me nuts with his totally inconsistent play. As for his franchise record, well, to tell you the truth I watched a lot of Leaf games and I can tell you that he couldn’t take all that much credit for the wins. In fact, with a better goalie they’d have made the playoffs.
I do wish Andrew good luck in Colorado. He always seemed like a good guy and he dealt with the constant abuse by the Toronto fans and media gracefully. It had to be hard to be a young goalie following up Joseph and Belfour in this market. Hopefully without the insane pressure he faced here he can regain his confidence and focus and regain the form that saw him win the Calder.
Mike @ MHH
Only time will tell with Raycroft, but team fandom aside, you’d have to agree all of his stats since winning the Calder are indicative of a precipitative slide.
He stunk the year after winning the Calder.
He bailed on his team in Europe during the lock-out.
He put up terrible individual numbers despite winning 37 games in 2006-07.
He was, quite frankly, ECHL caliber last year.
It’s a four year trend of suck v. one good year (in pre-lockout hockey before goalie gear was down-sized).
A year from now we can both look back and see if Colorado has signed another Jim Carey or if Raycroft has anything left in the tank.
I know where I’d place my bet.
I understand your points completely, and I don’t disagree 100%. However, I’d like to point out that the statement you just made was said about Theo when we picked him up, and we suffered through 2 seasons of wretched play before he found his game as a starter, so it can happen. Now we’ve got Raycroft for ONE SEASON as a BACKUP. Expectations are lower coming in this time, so I don’t see the gloom and doom that others do.
I still think his injury and his treatment in Toronto have more to do with his play than his actual abilities, but that’s just my opinion and doesn’t matter worth a hill of beans.
Also, I know I brought up the equipment regs initially, but I’d like to formally state that I don’t believe ONE IOTA that the change in equipment resulted in any significant difficulties for ANY goalie. You can tweak pads and gloves all day, but when 99.9% of goalies in the show today make saves with the middle of the torso, you won’t affect anybody’s ability; goalies or shooters.
Just wanted to get that out there before my brotherhood of goalies eviscerates me…
“So, there you have it folks. I think we all understand the bottom line: one more year of baseball cap jokes!”
At least we’ll get the jokes at a much reduced salary over Theo.
For the improvements in his game, and his only slight Sophomore slump (he was still 4th on the team in scoring despite being benched a number of time by the “Q”) I don’t have a problem with the amount, though I would have rather he signed a few more years…
Hopefully he and Svatos won’t have to spend so much of their season wasting their time playing with Arnason. Either that or find a way to pass only to each other so Arnie won’t have the chance to miss the open net.