Joseph and RayCroft Are Proof: Hind-Sight Is 20/20

I am by no means comparing Andrew RayCroft to Curtis Joseph.

Curtis Joseph is probably one of the greatest goalies to ever wear the pads.

The point that I will make here is this: We all know the reason the Leafs got Raycroft in the first place. He had a stand-out year the prior year with Boston.

So the Leafs signed RayCroft to a big contract and expected him to be as good playing for the Leafs as he was playing for Boston. And rightly so!

RayCroft never panned out for the Leafs and never showed any of his previous greatness that he displayed with the Bruins.

I did notice a few times that there could have been a personality clash between himself and Leaf coaching staff. When personality becomes an issue, then of course, so does attitude.

In any case, RayCroft, for whatever reason, had worked his way to a back-up roll for the Leafs. And of course the rest is history.

I saw RayCroft playing in his last game with Colorado and he was playing as if he was with Boston.

So it brings us to a mind-boggling thought: What happened to RayCroft in Toronto?

RayCroft is 28 years old and has played seven games this season with five wins and a loss.

RayCroft's stats for 2008/2009 are: GA-17, SV-894, GAA-2.79.

I am not going to bad-mouth the 41-year-old Joseph for his O and four record and GAA -4.33.

We all know that a goalie on most nights is only as good as the team in front of him.

Toskala, at 31 years old and being paid about $4 million more than Joseph, has played 28 games for he Leafs and has a 12-9-5 record.

Toskala, for his mediocre record, has a GAA of 3.11 and a SA percentage of .887. Not good enough in this league and for the bucks he is being paid.

Toskala's play at the moment and the big contract is the same reason RayCroft is no longer a Leaf. 

So this brings me to the question: With different people running the show in Toronto this season and RayCroft happy and playing the way he is, five more wins would look very nice for Toronto.

In this case: "Hind Sight" is 20/20.