Raking Leafs

Mixing metaphors and casting cliches about hockey and the Maple Leafs for the ether's pleasure since MCMLXVII.

3/02/2006

Accolades continue for Pogge

Justin Pogge #1 in CHL. Mark Staal is #2. Luc Bourdon is #3. Bobby Ryan is #4. Cam Barker is #5

posted by mike @ 10:15 AM  

5 Comments:

  • At 4:48 PM, Blogger Taylor said…

    Looking at Justin Pogge's steady development, and considering that Ed Belfour is likely playing his last season - as a Maple Leaf, anyway - what are your thoughts on bringing up Pogge (or Rask, if they sign him) as a backup for Mikael Tellqvist next season? Or should they stick with Racine or Aubin?

     

  • At 5:48 PM, Blogger mike said…

    Good question.

    Rushing a tender's development is never recommended, and since next year Belfour probably won't be a Leaf, along with it being a rebuilding year for the franchise, I say hand the reins over to Telly. But only if he proves himself to be the no.1.

    Assuming Telly does earn the starting roll, the back-up spot is up for grabs, so let all of them fight for time in camp.

    But if Telly is pushed by the younger guys, I don't know what to do. Look what the Sabres and Rangers did this year. Or the Wild for that matter; no no.1 and still very successful. Give a tandem or trio a chance and let the cream rise.

    But whoever is in charge (I wouldn't bet on Quinn returning) must be mindful to limit Pogge's and/or Rask's minutes if they stick with the big buds. Tom Renney didn't ride Lundqvist early in the season, despite Hank being obviously superior to Weekes, and the Rangers' faithful hated it at the time but now they are loving it.

    To be honest I haven't seen any of the Leafs minor league goalies(I didn't even see the WJC being here in the states), save for Aubin when he was in Pittsurgh, but I think healthy competition would be good for the team in general. Too much country-clubbing this year.

     

  • At 2:59 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    Well JS Aubin has a lot of experiance in the NHL with the Penguins so I think that may give him an edge. But then again you have to come down to who is playing the best.

    You think Toronto will trade for a goalie??

     

  • At 5:10 PM, Blogger mike said…

    I don't see why the Leafs would trade for a goalie. After Eddie, we may not have an established bonafide #1 but we have more than a few in the making. I'd be willing to roll the dice next year and see if we can't get one or more these young goalies to emerge. Besides, putting pressure on the skaters to actually bail out the goalie, rather than the other way around, might do wonders for the team's overall play. Or it might be a disaster. We'll have to wait and see.

    Either way, trading assets for a proven goalie wouldn't be on my 'to do' list.

     

  • At 6:03 PM, Blogger Taylor said…

    Trading for a goalie might seem like a strange move, but a few solid goalies will be UFAs this summer - Manny Fernandez and Dwayne Roloson, to name two (assuming they don't re-sign with the Wild); they're both from southern Ontario and might not mind wearing the blue and white. Of course, this precludes the possibility of making Tellqvist the starter next year, and as he's already 26 years old, there isn't much of a window left until he's considered a career backup.

     

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