Posts tagged AndrewRaycroft at FanHouse

I don't know what the Thrashers give-a-crap level was at, but the Penguins certainly kicked their give-a-crap level up a few notches as they snapped a five-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over Atlanta. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28-of-29 shots, while Petr Sykora scored a pair of goals in the win.

Not only did Pittsburgh ends its losing streak, it also ended an 0-for-32 power play drought by going 2-for-6 with the man advantage.

It was a costly win of sorts for the Penguins, as Ruslan Fedotenko and Pascal Dupuis left the game with injuries and did not return. Both players had been playing, perhaps, their best hockey of the season in recent weeks.

Fedotenko appeared to suffer a hand injury when he punched out Colby Armstrong in the first period. It was perhaps the shortest fight of the season, as it consisted of one Fedotenko punch to the jaw, and Armstrong attempting to throw one when both players were on the ice. Fedotenko could be seen shaking his hand as he went to the penalty box, and then headed directly to the locker room and did not return.

Alex Goligoski was again a healthy scratch, as head coach Michel Therrien used the same lineup he used in New York the night before, with much better results. Evgeni Malkin recorded three assists, while Sidney Crosby scored his 16th goal of the season.

Ilya Kovalchuk scored the lone goal for Atlanta late in the third period, ending Fleury's shutout bid.

Another night, another win for the San Jose Sharks. What else is new? The Kings jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to goals by Matt Greene and Ted Purcell, but because they refuse to lose in regulation (or at any point, really) the Sharks managed to tie the game with tallies from Ryane Clowe and Patrick Marleau.

The game remained tied throughout the third period and overtime, leading to a shootout where the Sharks picked up goals from Clowe and Dan Boyle, while Brian Boucher turned aside two of the three Los Angeles shots, giving San Jose a 3-2 win.

The Sharks win, combined with Detroit's loss (more on this in a bit) gives San Jose an eight point lead for the top spot in the Western Conference. The victory also gives San Jose the best record in NHL history through the first 30 games of the season, as the Sharks currently boast a 25-3-2 mark. They haven't lost a game in regulation since November 9, which is a 15-game streak where San Jose has picked up at least a point.

Boucher made 26 saves in the win, while Los Angeles snapped its modest two-game winning streak.

As of right now, the NHL is the San Jose Sharks -- and everybody else. It remains to be seen how long they can keep playing at such a pace, and who knows, it may hurt them in the long-run that they're playing their best hockey in November and December as opposed to, say, May and June. But none of that changes the fact this is quite an incredible stretch of hockey. Kudos, San Jose.

There are a lot of big names still on the board through the early stages of free agency today. The one position that there's been no shortage of movement at? Goalie. Goalies are changing teams left and right today and the effects of some of the moves are going to be pretty wide-ranging. Let's take a look at some of the moves that have taken place and what they might mean. All of the exhaustive contract details are via TSN.

Jose Theodore to the Capitals- It's a two-year, $9 million deal and Eric's got the details below. Theodore did seem to regain some of his form this past year with the Avalanche, but he melted down in the playoffs against the Red Wings while suffering from a bad case of the flu. He'll probably give the Caps an upgrade over what Olie the Goalie was giving them earlier in the year, but he won't carry them the way Huet did down the stretch last year. And $4.5 million seems like a lot of money for a guy that just might be washed up, doesn't it?

Cristobal Huet to the Blackhawks- With a ton of moneyalready tied up in Nikolai Khabibulin (~$7 million a year), the 'Hawks are now paying Huet $5.635 a year as well. Huet's an upgrade over what the Blackhawks have, for sure, but I'm trying to wrap my mind around paying more than $12 million a year for their top two goalies.

More goalie moves after the jump.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, under Interim/Semi-permanent GM Cliff Fletcher, have been busy this summer trimming the fat from the roster in anticipation of a new GM *cough*Brian Burke*cough* coming in to right the ship. Kyle Wellwood's fat ass, Darcy Tucker's temper, and Andrew Raycroft's five-hole have all been told to get the hell out, and Trader Cliff isn't done yet.

Cliff's next target seems to be Bryan McCabe, the highly-paid defenseman with the big shot and woeful defensive ability.

The problem? McCabe has a no-trade clause, a huge contract, and the Leafs are unwilling to pay to have the rest of his $10M contract bought out.

The solution? According to The Sports Network, the Leafs could strong-arm the guy and MAKE McCabe want to leave.

Sources tell TSN the Maple Leafs approached McCabe's agent, Ian Pulver before the NHL Entry Draft hoping to encourage the veteran defenceman to waive his no-movement clause to open the door for a trade.

However, this time, whether intended or not, Toronto turned up the heat and according to sources, hinted McCabe may be asked to stay home, rather than join his teammates for training camp if he wasn't willing to change his mind.

Of course, these 'sources' could easily be the janitor at the Air Canada Centre, or Cliff Fletcher's nephew's brother's friend. Take it all with a grain of salt.

All I can say is that IF the Leafs decided to play such games, they can ensure themselves that future free agents are going to stay the hell away from Leafland. What player is going to want to put up with that? It's not McCabe's fault the Leafs lavished him with one of the worst contracts this decade.

Ah, the Toronto hockey media. You can always count on them for over-analyzing a single regular season game, getting panicky over a two-game losing streak, planning the parade route after three straight wins, and whipping up trade rumors out of thin air.

Say you are a team looking for a goaltender and see the following on the market ...

a 88.2% save percentage, which would be the second worst total in the entire NHL among qualified goalies.

a 3.50GA, which is far worse than any starting goaltender in the NHL.

a $2mil/season salary

According to TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger, at least three clubs -- the Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning and Los Angeles Kings -- have called the Leafs inquiring about Raycroft, who has become entrenched in his role as Toronto's backup behind starter Vesa Toskala.

This is classic. Team suffers injury or has an obvious need, the Leafs have a spare part they want to get rid of, and suddenly other teams are showing interest.

Riiiiight! It's one thing to say that a team with an injury MIGHT want to look at Raycroft, but quite another to claim that the Penguins or any other team would really want to trade for a poor goaltender with a big contract. There is a reason Raycroft is a backup, and it's not because Toskala is the bees knees.

Look, just because the Leafs have a (bad) goalie that they want to get rid of, and some other team has an opening, doesn't mean the other team is going to want to trade with the Leafs. Who, in the right mind, would want Andrew Raycroft? The Penguins already have a poor backup, and he (Conklin), is not going to cost $2mil in salary AND whatever assets the Penguins would have to trade away.