Takin' a T/O With BT: As The Toronto Maple Leafs Change Colors...

Apparently, a lot can happen in two days.

Just last night I was wondering what was going to happen with Andrew Raycroft, while contemplating how to construct an article about how two of the most injury-prone Leafs—Kyle Wellwood and Carlo Colaiacovo—could be looking at two crucial years in their time with the Blue and White.

Tonight, as we were taking the field for our baseball game, I turned to Trevor and asked him what exactly he thought the plan was for Darcy Tucker, now that Jamal Mayers had come aboard and Cliff Fletcher was finally starting to take action with tihs team.

Now, all those questions have been answered—well except for Colaiacovo, although we may get there yet.

To say the least, the era of "Red-Light" Raycroft manning the pipes for the Blue and White is over.

After being acquired in exchange for Tuuka Rask in a deal that will live on in infamy as the pure definition of the JFJ era in Leafs fans' minds, Raycroft seemed to start his Leafs career admirably. Despite losing his first game, "Rayzor" was able to bounce back the next night and shut out the rival Ottawa Senators 6-0. He went on to post a 6-4-2 record in his first month as a Leaf.

But despite his knack for being able to pull out wins, Raycroft did nothing to ingrain himself into the good books of Leafs Nation. The former Calder Trophy winner never seemed to display an ability to steal games, and of his 37 wins, five games saw Raycroft give up four or more goals, while ten saw him give up at least three.

By comparison, Martin Brodeur only had to win two wins which saw him allow more than four goals, and eight in which he allowed three or more (for the record, Raycroft played in six fewer games than Brodeur—78 to 72—but won 11 fewer times).

Despite his 37 wins, which tied a franchise record, the fans weren't happy with Raycroft. He appeared shaky and prone to weak goals—opening the door to the best trade of Ferguson's career, the Vesa Toskala trade.

Side note: You can't deny this was his best trade—I mean he didn't make very many, but despite mortgaging two quality draft picks and having to pick up Mark Bell (time will tell with Bell), Ferguson actually addressed a need—albeit, one he inadvertently created—and improved the team.

(Coming in a close second was the reacquisition of Yanic Perrault.)

The hockey-crazed market of Toronto wasn't happy with just having "Rayzor" delegated to the bench, however. The fans smelled blood and wanted him out.

They pined for him to be demoted to the minors, wondered if we could squeeze a seventh-round draft pick out of anyone for our beleagured backup goalie, and some even started to hope he would just stop showing up for work.

After a 2-9-5 season, featuring a goals against average nearing the vaunted 4.00 mark (3.92), Cliff Fletcher finally put the poor guy out of his misery.

Joining him, though—much to the surprise of some and to the glee of others—was Kyle Wellwood.

In many ways, playing for the Leafs was like coming home for Kyle Wellwood—he just never seemed to stick around long enough.

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