It’s not the same thing. Raycroft would stand on the ice and shrug his shoulders, sometimes before the puck had even hit the back of the net.

Toskala’s COMPOSURE in front of reporters after a very dissapointing performance shouldn’t be interpreted at apathy.

Well at least it will infect Luongo.

O’Bryne?

But yeah, I’m gonna laugh all the way to class. See ya.

Moen was a good pickup. And he’s a bit tough. He’d be like, oh, 6th on our team, which isn’t bad.

Hal Gill??

Well, at this rate, we’ll get to see the Monster starting game 2 or 3, anyway.

If we’re going to speculate about his thoughts, I propose that he has always hated not being THE #1 goalie on any team. He is convinced he both deserves it and is the best, regardless of his performance.
I propose he is thinking that he is truly no longer the bona-fide #1 goalie on this team, that the team has turned their backs on him, and that he is no longer a Leaf.
I think we’ve seen the last of his good or great goaltending for the Leafs.

Any position with which one agrees is eminently reasonable. :)

I’m Switzerland here, but how come 1967ers perspective is reasonable?

It’s perfectly reasonable. Why don’t you explain why it’s unreassonable, Mable?

Just because you agree with him? Because that’s not actually the standard.

I don’t really get this comment. I don’t understand where it’s coming from. My opinion is that this is still the PRESEASON and Leaf fans seem to be giving up on a goalie based on very bad 2 PERIODS of ONE PRESEASON game.

1967ers comment, IM MY UNIQUE AND UTTERLY SINGULAR OPINION, is that it is a reasonable perspective that hasn’t been not fuelled by rage and spite.

And if you somehow imply I’m suggesting that “the goalie gets to just let in all sorts of goals and bare no responsibility for them” because I think PRESEASON is too early to throw the goaltender under the bus, then you’re letting your bias show through there pretty clearly, swiss cheese.

to realize that you were not in Switzerland, but that you were Switzerland.

Shame, really. Sounded like a nice trip.

For the love of Schenn, all I’m trying to do is to get some perspective. Yes, there is a lot of dumping on him, but it really isn’t helped by the ‘pro-Toskala’ forces dumping it all on the D. I would love it if just once, people could actually acknowledge when the opposing side has a point.

Thanks so much. Really.

And I don’t expect ‘honesty’ but I would like to see some semblance of being able to see the reality of the situation.

Toskala was a bit lucky (two posts on one shot and three on a shift?!) but he was back to the kind of relaxed form that we know he can hit. His glove hand looked like a fishing net with the amount of shots he snagged. Andrew Raycroft would have let in 14 goals tonight.

The next time you wrote about him last year you lambasted him for his poor play over the first 18 games of the season in a point-counterpoint session. He proceeded to rattle off 3 games where he saved 94 of 98 shots (.959 save percentage) over the next 3 games. He mustn’t have looked that bad in those 3 games.

Then there’s the whole thing you guys are missing about how Toskala closed out last season. Over his final 6 games before they shut him down for the year, he stopped 219 out of 233 shots (.940 save percentage), and that was averaging 39 shots against per game. If you don’t think it’s over the top to say he’s incapable of playing well I’m not sure how much evidence you need to see.

the cross crease pass that he let slide right by him because he wasnt paying attention to the buffalo player was horrible too

to make that argument, because we’re paying more for our D than any other team in the NHL… and that would involve quesitoning Burke and/or Wilson, and wondering why when you put together some of the best defensive players from OTHER teams, they suddenly suck for the Leafs.

it was the last preseason game, the leafs played 9, most teams played 6. I just dont think they were very into it….. I highly doubt we will see that kind of effort come thursday

Read my recap where I specifically highlight that the defence failed on a few of the goals.

And I’m not willing to go as far as Chemmy in rating Vesa municipal-dump worthy. I just remember the chatter about his “needing” to be the #1 goalie for whatever team he’s on, and he’d have to be blind not to see the writing on the wall.
I think he has a possibility of many more decent years in the NHL, and maybe a couple of great ones, it’s just not with us.

Well, I think that there is some real hope that has been generated this off-season, and we’re worried about losing it. By this time last year, we had already resigned ourselves to the idea of a terrible season (not tanking, but not a good year). It’s easier to get defensive when you feel you have something to lose.

Here’s a newsflash Steve, people are freaking out because those 2 sub-par to outright bad years (your own words) are showing no sign of being turned around.

Why weren’t people freaking out like this LAST year? I mean I kinda was… but now people wait until the pre-season? it makes no sense.

Ummmm really? No one was worried about this last year? Sure.

perhaps the extra goose egg was a Freudian exclusion?

If he returns to form like that shouldn’t we ride him into the playoffs? If he returns to form what does the Monster do?

This is the Leafs schedule before Thanksgiving:

Montreal
@ Washington
@ Ottawa
@ PIttsburgh

Two games with divisional rivals who, quite frankly, are just as big of an X-factor as the Leafs are. Both teams have offences built around very mercurial, but dangerous scorers. They are the types of teams that you don’t want to let get hot because there’s no telling when they might turn it off. The other two games are, with apologies to CH and the Bruins, against the two best teams in the East, featuring the three greatest players in a generation.

The new-look defence is going to be tested enough as it is over this stretch. If Gustavsson starts, we find out right away what sort of mettle he’s got. Obviously no guarantee that it works out, but it bears mentioning that he stood up to the very best that Detroit’s 90% full lineup and Detroit’s very best young prospects had, and turned away everything.

If we put Toskala in, we’re almost guaranteed to drop valuable points that in a wide-open Eastern Conference could mean the difference between in or out of the playoffs. MOre importantly, we make things much harder on ourselves because we give every small and skill team a blueprint to beat us, AND we give our two biggest rivals confidence that they can have a successful season.

There is no “easing in” to this season, ladies and gents. This thing starts Thursday and don’t stop till April. One way or another, we find out what a lot of these guys are made of. Might as well start right away.

As spectacular as that save was, if you watch his film, he simply has the capacity to do it regularly. It’s what he does. He doesn’t have the groin of let’s say, Toskala.
He was calm about it and did what his instincts told him to do, and his body and his skills allow him to to.

I forget if it was mf37 or Godd Till but one of them said to me (to paraphrase) “The SEL isn’t the NHL but it’s better than the CHL”.

If a goalie we drafted put up a .961 SV% in the mem cup we’d say that’s ridiculous. On the other hand Tellqvist.

I knew you’d show up for that one, Meat. :) Too funny.

I think that makes Chemmy Darcy Tucker diving into the Senators bench.

and I think everyone’s all to aware of how precarious this team is. Sure, on paper the defense looks light years better, but they still need to gel and that transition period could be painful. Our goaltending is a huge question – sure Gustavsson looks promising, but Toskala is a huge question mark, and Joey Mac is a cast-off from a Red Wings organization that rarely wastes talent, and preferred Chris Osgoode over him. We just need to have some games be played that really matter, and get a feeling for exactly how good this team is going to be. It’s never wracking when Burke and heck, even jaded journalists, are predicting playoffs without any on-ice proof of that potential.

largely stem from the efforts Allaire is making to get him to adjust to changing his angle slightly.

He’s obviously over-compensating when he comes across the crease, and tends to be stuck out of position on the ensuing wrap arounds.