Three mistakes led to an organization-altering blunder. With former GM John Ferguson at the helm, the Leafs pegged Pogge as a potential No. 1. They considered Andrew Raycroft (8-19-2, 3.71 goals-against average, .879 save percentage in 2005-06), then No. 3 on the Boston depth chart behind Tim Thomas and Hannu Toivonen, a go-to NHL goalie. And they didn’t project Rask, one of three names atop the Bruins board in 2005 (Toronto selected him one spot before Boston nabbed Matt Lashoff), to be better than Pogge.
“Raycroft’s agent had already asked me to be moved prior to that draft day that we got Tuukka,’’ Gorton wrote. “When we talked about Raycroft with Toronto, the name we kept coming back to was Tuukka. Things worked out.’’
In 2006-07, Raycroft went 37-25-9 with a 2.99 GAA and an .894 save percentage for Toronto. The following year, as Vesa Toskala’s backup, Raycroft’s GAA swelled to 3.92 while his save percentage dipped to .839 over 19 games. The following summer, Toronto bought out the final year of Raycroft’s contract. Raycroft now serves as Roberto Luongo’s little-used backup in Vancouver.
Pogge appeared in seven games for the Leafs in 2008-09, going 1-4-1 with a 4.35 GAA and an .844 save percentage. On July 10, 2009, Toronto traded Pogge to Anaheim for a 2010 pick. At the March 3 trade deadline, Anaheim flipped Pogge and a conditional fourth-round pick to Carolina in a deal for Aaron Ward.
Rask, meanwhile, will make his NHL playoff debut tonight against the Sabres after an expectations- busting regular season. Lowest GAA in the league. Best save percentage. Had Rask stood between the Toronto pipes this year, the Leafs might not have finished in 29th place, thus giving the Bruins a crack at drafting Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin in June.
Things could change for the 23-year-old goalie. But so far, the 2006 trade doesn’t just qualify as a win. The last time someone in Boston committed such a high-profile heist, they were hightailing it out of the Gardner Museum with armfuls of Rembrandts.
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