It’s no secret how much of a tortured franchise the Toronto Maple Leafs have been over the last 50+ years. Yeah, there’s the Stanley Cup drought, but it goes much deeper than that.
To put it into perspective, the Tuukka Rask trade summarizes the pain pretty well. After drafting the Finnish goaltender with their 1st round pick in the 2005 draft (21st overall), the Leafs decided to trade Rask to the Boston Bruins in exchange for former Calder-winning goaltender Andrew Raycroft.
Needless to say, Raycroft’s two years in Toronto certainly weren’t worth the cost of Rask, especially considering Rask has been integral in burning the Leafs for three separate Bruins’ 1st round series victories.
Leafs fans have come to terms with it to the best of their abilities, but every once in a while the trade rears its ugly head to slap them in the face again. One new stat certainly does that pretty well.
As discovered by Dan Ryan of Stanley Cup of Chowder, Rask is now the winningest Leafs goalie draft pick in history. Not one of those W’s came for Toronto, and a number of them have come against the Buds.
Rask passed Potvin despite playing 138 less games than him, just to rub some salt in the wound. While Bruins win over the Vegas Golden Knights doesn’t have a direct effect on the Leafs, it’s hard to imagine that it doesn’t sting just a little bit in a “what could have been” sort of way.
With the NHL playoff format promoting inter-divisional rivalries, and a 2018-19 President’s Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning team mostly returning again this season, there’s a fairly good chance these two clubs meet in the postseason again. Maybe the Leafs can finally put their demons to bed and beat their franchise’s most winningest drafted goaltender.
