Raycroft the Scapegoat

This is long, and I offer no apology because of it. I took a lot of time out of my week to get this together, so that we can all debate this as fans of hockey. Feel free to bash me, but please, if you think Raycroft is all so bad, read this entirely and check the videos on NHL.com. When the Leafs lost, the usually lost by more than goal. Going to through out some season Rankings for the leafs before I start.

15th on the PP. 27th on the PK. 3rd in total shots/ 3rd for shots per game. 7th in least allowed shots / 7th in shots against per game, but that ranking is so close for all the teams, the leafs are at 28.4 per game allowed, tied with 4 teams there and 7 other teams with less than a shot more a game. One of those stats that we look at and make a bigger deal of than really is. When Toronto was outshot, their record was 8 – 9 – 2, good for 27th in the league.

I’m a little tired of people saying that Toronto had one of the best D units in the league, and it was their best unit since whatever season. I just got done reviewing every single goal scored against the Leafs in loses only, and let me tell you its embarrassing. I will break down each loss that could possibly be blamed on goaltending. It was very enlightening to say the least, and I saw good and bad things from the Leafs.

October 4th, 2006 – Ott 4 / Tor 1 (Not Raycrofts Fault)

Regardless of how #1 played, the team didn’t score enough to win. The only goal on the NHL Video was the first goal, and it was by Patrick Eaves on the PP, and something of note, was Kaberle looked lost. The other 3 goals were not viewable.

October 18th, 2006 – Col 4 / Tor 1 (Not Raycrofts Fault)

Once again the team failed to score more than 1 goal. The goals break down like this. 26 shots, 22 saves, 4 GA.

1st goal – Mclean – Of note: I thought it was a great goal, No D help for Raycroft.

2nd goal – Liles – 4v4 goal, really Fluky play, Gill looked bad on it as well.

3rd goal – Liles – Breakaway goal, obviously no D to be found

4th goal – Hejduk – 2 on 1 goal

Raycroft faced 26 shots, stopping 22, while that sounds bad, the team gave up some pretty big shots. Breakaway and a 2 on 1 goal.

October 24th, 2006 – Ott 6 / Tor 2 (Raycroft not to blame, the D was a joke this game)

While they finally managed more than 1 goal this loss, they were severely out played where it counts. #1 faced 21 shots, stopped 16, gave up 5 goals with 2 being on the PP. Here is how they break down.

1st goal – Fisher – 2 on 1, #3 on Tor gets beat pretty bad

2nd goal – Meszaros – A one-timer from the point, pretty all around play

3rd goal – Eaves – PP goal, Gill was looking for a contact lens on the play

4th goal – Vermette – PP, McCabe was looking for the contact as well

5th goal – Heatley – Rebound goal, really soft D in my opinion

November 22nd, 2006 – Tor 4 / Buff 7 (Total lack of Defence the entire game)

They did a better job on offense this game, and could have been a win. The problem is playing the Sabres with a soft and slow defence (overall). Not to mention the sabers were on fire at this time. 27 shots, 22 saves, 5 GA, 2 PP.

1st goal – Afingenov – PP, No D what so ever. Terrible goal for the entire line

2nd goal – Novotny – McCabe got schooled hardcore

3rd goal – Briere, PP, All I can say is, nice goal

4th goal – Campbell – All around bad D on this goal

5th goal – Briere – Raycroft turns the puck over at a bad time, McCabe doesn’t do much to help him recover at all, pretty much stands their looking at Raycroft.

November 25th, 2006 Bos 3 / Tor 1 (Turnovers lost this game)

Not being able to score against boston is pretty bad, but the team played poorly as a whole I feel. The team was really soft in their own end. 25 shots, 22 saves, 3 GA, 1 PP.

1st goal – Tenkrat – Great play and shot, turnover started this entire goal

2nd goal – Savard – PP, 1 timer shot, pretty weak, but he was moving from one side to another, over all bad goal for #1 I’d say.

3rd goal – Boyes – McCabe forgets he’s playing D again

November 28th, 2006 – Bos 4 / Tor 1 (D gets owned again)

The team backchecking wasn’t to be found, not to mention the total lack of D on almost all 3 goals. 23 shots, 20 saves, 3 GA.

1st goal – Donovan – 2 on 1 goal

2nd goal – Murray – Toronto’s D gets schooled

3rd goal – Sturm – McCabe gets injured, and takes his time getting off the ice, doesn’t realize the play is coming at him and he leaves his position wide open and they score. Was milking an injury and cost his team a goal, total douche move.

November 30th, 2006 – Tor 0 / Atl 5 (Toronto didn’t come to play)

The team was probally tired, they did play a jam packed week I feel. No effort to be found in these highlights. 27 shots, 22 saves, 5 GA, 3 PP.

1st goal – Hossa – PP, Toronto just looked beat

2nd goal – Hossa – 3 on 1 play, great play

3rd goal – Mellanby – PP, McCabe who?

4th goal – Larsen – Weird play, #7 along with Sundin get stripped and scored on

5th goal – Hossa – PP, Walks through the entire team right up the middle on the PP

December 5th, 2006 – Atl 5 / Tor 2 (Outplayed as a team again)

This last 12-14 days the team has been playing poorly overall. The D is choking up more pucks each game. The O looks tired and defeated. Sundin while I dislike him will look 10x better with Blake. 36 shots, 32 saves, 4 GA, 2 PP.

1st goal – Metropolit – PP, Deflection goal. Can’t blame the goalie for them.

2nd goal – Kozlov – Gill turnover

3rd goal – Kozlov – Gill is having a bad game

4th goal – Hossa – PP, Breakaway. Don’t ask me how…

December 9th, 2006 – Tor 1 / Det 5 (All goals scored on the PP, not #1’s fault)

Just pretty much a special teams’ game, from the highlights it looked like a good game in between the penalties. Where Detroit obviously exposed their PK unit. 20 shots, 16 saves, 4 GA, 4 PP.

1st goal – Samuelsson – PP, Nice freakin pass!

2nd goal – Zetterberg – PP, Nice play

3rd goal – Samuelsson – PP, Wide open.

4th goal – Zetterberg – PP, Kaberle caught standing still

December 19th, 2006 – Fla 7 / Tor 3 (Another game where the D didn’t come to play)

1st goal – Olesz – Defense got schooled

2nd goal – Roberts – All alone behind Kaberle for deflection

3rd goal – Peltonen – Gill embarrasses himself by falling down and allowing a breakaway the other way. I laughed at loud, and than cried in shame for the guy.

4th goal – Roberts – Gill turns over the puck, another embarrassing play

5th goal – Gelinas – PP, Point shot deflected, no blame anywhere imo.

6th goal – Kwiatkowski – PP, nice overall play I think

December 23rd, 2006 Was 3 / Tor 2 (First goal cost them the game I think)

Team played good, close game. The first goal was a bad bounce and really made Raycroft look bad. 27 shots, 24 saves, 3 GA, 3 PP. Obviously the PP unit didn’t get the job done again.

1st goal – Ovechkin – PP, was a scramble

2nd goal – Semin – PP, Perfect shot, great play and keep in

3rd goal – Zubrus – PP, Where the hell is McCabe?

This is a look at the first half of the season’s losses, if enough interest is shown, I’ll break down all the other losses for the rest of the year. A few games were left out because of how bad the game was. The game that did it for me was this game:

October 26th, 2006 – Ott 7 / Tor 2

Blow out. Plain and simple. Ottawa owning Toronto pretty much. 40 shots, 33 saves, 7 GA, 1 PP.

1st goal – Fisher – Gill has lost his mind

2nd goal – Vermette – Screened shot

3rd goal – Heatley – perfect play no D

4th goal – Corvo – Wide open shot, no D

5th goal – Heatley – Perfect setup, no chance

6th goal – Heatley – PP, D didn’t tie up his stick

7th goal – Spezza – McCabe turnover

Mind you all these goals and shot totals are ONLY with Raycroft in the net. Some of these games he was pulled, or some he replaced Aubin. I didn’t specify which, well because I forgot too. I’ve taken a huge interest in Raycroft since his public bashing on the forums, and while he did play 72 games, and was probally physically exhausted, he did NOT play bad. Watch the videos my friends, take notes, and post a reply. Lets debate this, not argue unintelligibly.