First of all, where were all of you bashers during the past few seasons when Pogge was, for the lack of a better term, less than stellar in the minors. His struggles were well documented (by both Leaf haters and Leaf fans) but the majority of Leaf fans seemed to think, “Oh he’ll turn it around” or “You’ll see, he’s still our goalie for the future.” As soon of news of the trade broke, these same people seem to have flipped their position entirely, and now his is magically considered a bust, because they say so. Yes, a goals against average hovering close to 3, and a save percentage barely over .900 in the minors is weak, maybe even bad, but as much as it pains me to say this, the statistics don’t tell the whole story.

Over the course of his 3 years with the Marlies, I watched him. Although many nights he was off, he DID show improvement. For some reason he had the immense pressure of a high first round draft pick, even though he was a late 3rd rounder. There is a reason why he was drafted in the 3rd round, folks. He is still currently improving his game, and adjusting to the professional game. Yes it has been 3 seasons, but he still needs more time. People seem to forget that he is barely 23 years old. Goaltenders take a lot of time to reach their full potential. His potential is still there, which leads me to my second point.

HE IS NOT A BUST. Justin Pogge is still fully capable of being a starting goaltender in the NHL. I stick with the position I took in a scouting report I did on him a year ago. He was traded because he does not fit into the Leafs’ plans anymore. With Toskala and Gustavsson there for the time being, and Brian Burke very high on the other young Leaf netminder James Reimer, it was Pogge’s time to go. He was not traded because he is a bust (despite what people seem to think all of a sudden) he was traded because he wanted to get a fair crack at a starting NHL job, which he wasn’t going to get in Toronto.

Unfortunately for him, he isn’t going to get that crack in Anaheim either. Anaheim is absolutely loaded with depth at the goaltender position. Giguere and Hiller are going to be around long term, and according to HockeysFuture, there are at least 4 other goaltenders in Anaheim’s system that are ahead of Pogge in the depth charts.

Another small problem? Anaheim has no AHL affiliate. The Iowa Chops and the Ducks cut ties, and it has left the Ducks affiliate-less. That means Pogge will have to settle for playing maybe 20 games with some random AHL team that will take him aboard (seriously, who wants some other team’s goalie starting all the games for their AHL affiliate?) or accept a job playing in the ECHL for the Ducks affiliate in Idaho. It will be a trying year for Pogge.

If you can take one thing away from this article, it’s that Pogge is definitely not a bust, and he was traded because of the situation he was in didn’t allow for him to move up the depth chart.  Anaheim isn’t exactly the greatest situation for him either, though.

My first installment is on Swedish netminder Jonas Gustavsson. He’s been highly touted as the “best goaltender outside of the NHL” and has been rumoured to be coming over to the NHL to play next season. The 24 year-old has apparently been in contact with the Maple Leafs, Avalanche, Sharks, and Stars. We still don’t know where he’s going to end up, and it’s almost July 1st. Now, I’ve watched as much tape as I could possibly scrounge up on the internet on this guy, and I think I’m ready to give you the facts about Jonas Gustavsson. Is he the real deal? Read on to find out…

First thing that gets noticed about Gustavsson is obviously his size. The guy is huge. He has a 6 foot 4 frame, and knows how to use it. He has been given the nickname “the monster” for good reason. He has a strict butterfly style, and rarely ventures away from it. He doesn’t get caught out of position very often, but when he does, he scrambles well. He has a knack for always knowing where the puck is, even on tips, and in fast-paced scenarios. That’s not something you can teach, and I’m very happy to see that from the guy. His awareness is honestly better than a lot of current NHL starters.

His butterfly style allows him to cover the bottom half of the net very easily. His legs are so long, and take up so much net, shooters shouldn’t even try to score down low on the guy. What if they try to shoot high? He has solid reflexes to fall back on. Reflexes + Size is always a good combo in my books. Another thing I noticed is the fact that he doesn’t challenge a whole lot. He can get away with it, though, because of his size and reflexes. He definitely likes to stay back in his net, more so than most butterfly goaltenders.

He is very good at reading plays. I’ve seen him get out of some very tough situations, because he knew exactly what the other player was going to do. I don’t know if that’s just ability on his part, or if he studies shooters a lot, but it definitely shows. That ability to read plays also shows in his puckhandling. He doesn’t look like the greatest puckhandling goalie ever, but he is able to pass the puck up to his teammates in opportunistic situations. He has a good temper as well, I saw him get hacked at after the whistle a few times, but he just let his defenceman take care of the situation, and skated away.

Now that’s the good. But like every goalie, not every part of his game is that great. Some things I noticed:

He has good, not great rebound control. Same goes for shot recovery. I’d even venture to say that his rebound control is below average for a butterfly goaltender such as himself. His shot recovery could also use some work. Sure he’s able to scramble and make some magnificent saves, but it takes him a very long time to get back up, set, and ready to go.

Maybe I’m just expecting too much because of his great size. I expect him to be able to push across a lot better than most smaller goalies, but the fact is, he’s very average in that department. He doesn’t look exceptionally strong when pushing across. Sure, he’s big and flexible which helps him get by, but his lateral movement could really use some work.

My last point is very important, probably the biggest thing that stood out to me. He is very, very patient. He never makes the first move ever. This bodes well for most situations when it’s, say, and odd man rush, a breakaway, or a penalty kill, but it could backfire on him in the NHL. The main thing that worries me is that he will take a long time to adjust to the speed of the NHL. Sure, he plays with men right now, so it’s not like some kid coming out of junior, but there still is that period of adjustment. If he’s overly patient in the NHL, he could be caught watching plays happen around him, and become very ineffective.

He may never adjust to the NHL, and that worries me. The raw talent, and sheer size is there. If he’ll be as effective in the NHL remains to be seen. Any team that takes him is taking a gamble, of course, but he has a very high ceiling. I’m talking Roberto Luongo, Henrik Lundqvist kind of ceiling. Only time will tell, though. I just can’t wait to see what he can do against NHL shooters, and I’m eager to watch him play.

1. NYI – John Tavares
2. TB – Victor Hedman
3. COL – Matt Duchene
4. ATL – Jared Cowan
5. LA – Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson
6. PHX – Brayden Schenn
7. TOR – Evander Kane
8. DAL – Oliver Ekman-Larsson
9. OTT – Nazem Kadri
10. EDM – Jacob Josefson
11. NSH – Jordan Schroeder
12. MIN – Simon Despres
13. BUF – Scott Glennie
14. FLA – John Moore
15. ANA – David Rundblad
16. CLB – Zack Kassian
17. STL – Carl Klingberg
18. MTL – Ryan Ellis
19. NYR – Carter Ashton
20. PHX(From CGY Conditionally) – Olivier Roy
21. PHI – Peter Holland
22. VAN – Dmitry Kulikov
23. NJ – Louis Leblanc
24. WSH – Nick Leddy
25. BOS – Kyle Palmieri
26. NYI(From SJ) – Calvin De Haan
27. CAR – Chris Kreider
28. CHI – Marcus Johansson
29. DET – Stefan Elliott
30. PIT – Tim Erixon

A few notes of interest, the number 20 pick is conditional. Phoenix can either choose to use Calgary’s first round pick this year, or next year, and will wait until the pick comes up to decide. I have a strong feeling that they will choose to use it this year, based on Calgary’s poor playoff performance (they now have a somewhat lower pick) so they may think that this is the best pick they can get. Also, they are desparate for a goaltending prospect, so I think the time would be right to select Olivier Roy. He’s not neccesarily first round talent, but he’s my #1 ranked goalie, and I think they would be willing to take a stab at him, especially since they also have the #6 pick.

The East:

I really do not want the Rangers to make it in, but looks like they will sneak in, in either the 7th or 8th spot. If they stay away from a first round matchup with the Devils, I’ll be a bit happier, but I feel safest if they don’t make it in at all. There’s something about playing the Devils that changes the Rangers’ game. Suddenly the team with the second-least amount of goals in the east (196, better than only the Islanders) goes on a scoring tear and makes Marty look like a career AHLer and not the all time wins leader (Woo hoo!) In the Rangers place I would like to see the Panthers. They are far less menacing, in my opinion, and I want to see fans get excited in Florida once again. We haven’t seen real excitement there since the 1996 playoffs when they reached the finals. The team is full of hard-working, and deserving guys. Stillman, Bouwmeester, Vokoun. If the Panthers make the playoffs it sure makes Bouwmeester’s contract situation interesting. Does he decide that maybe Florida is getting better, and chooses to stay? That’s all I would change, Florida in, NYR out. I want Montreal in because it would calm some of the fans down, plus who doesn’t want to see more Canadian teams in the playoffs. Nobody rocks harder in the playoffs than Canadiens fans.

The West:

I’m really happy seeing Columbus sitting in 6th place as we enter these final few weeks. It seems like they’ve tried everything to get in, but it has never worked. I’m not sure how Steve Mason will fare in the playoffs, but it makes for some interesting stories for sure. I like that Anaheim is out. Part of me wants them to get in, to prove to everyone that teams can succeed without Brian Burke, but I really want another team to get in. I was shocked to see St. Louis so far up the standings at this time of the year. Not much has been said about that little team from Missouri, but they are making a real case. I’m not sure how far they can ride Chris Mason in the playoffs (Come on, the guy was scored on by Wade Belak of all people), but they have some really good, young talent that should be fun to watch. Guys like Brad Boyes and Dave Perron. Oh, they also did all of this without the services of Eric Brewer, one of their top d-men. And they made a pretty nice pickup when they acquired Carlo Colaiacovo and Alexander Steen for spare-parts forward Lee Stempniak. By the way Leafs fans, Colaiacovo has more points than Stempniak does since the trade (Stempniak is 10 + 16 and Colaiacovo is 3 + 25). I’m sure ol’ Burkie is thanking trader Cliff for that one!

Things are gearing up in the NHL. I love this time of year, with baseball starting and hockey games that mean so much every night. Get ready for an intense few weeks, hockey fans!

These warm-up sessions have long been a deceiving affair. That’s not to say the Leafs won’t struggle like they have these past few weeks, but putting too much merit into these match-ups would be a mistake. After all, the intensity that engulfs the game of hockey is toned down in preseason. This alone affects the flow of the game, ultimately altering the final outcome.

Another important factor to consider is the Leafs’ revamped line-up. Nearly half the roster is new faces, so chemistry has yet to be established at a comfortable level. That, and the Leafs are considerably younger than years past, so some adjusting may be in need.

While in the end goaltender Vesa Toskala will be praising his new defense, he too, like the rest of the club, is going to have to adjust to the new defensive system put in place by head coach Ron Wilson. At first glimpse, the Leafs appear to have learnt nothing, but a pattern has been followed throughout the past few weeks. One that has fought with the franchise many times in the past, and that is 3rd period collapses. When the Leafs learn to contain leads, they will change their fortunes dramatically. If the Leafs were graded after 2 periods of play, consistency would describe them more often than not. However, things aren’t that simple for the 41-year Cup-less franchise, so some work will have to be done by Wilson and co.

Instead of moping over the possibility of an Ottawa Senators playoff quality team, let’s go into the season with our minds open. If Wilson could sell the defensive system to the players, the playoffs are not a far cry. Achieving the fallow goal wouldn’t snub the rebuilding plan either, as some valuable experience would be had from the wide-range of youngsters.

On the other hand, a season full of L’s on the calendar would assure a quality prospect in a draft pool that is expected to be strong. This would further to the new era of promising youngsters that is beginning to re-ignite this fallen club.
No matter what the outcome, some interesting stories will be developing throughout the course of this season. And no matter what hardships the Leafs endure, it’s refreshing to see a legitimate rebuilding plan in motion.

Let’s enjoy this season, not only because it’s hockey, but because it’s a new page for a franchise in dire need of one.