Pogge Gets the Nod, Van Ryn Returns
Tonight, the Leafs will play the Minnesota Wild. Justin Pogge will be joining the Leafs for the affair and will get his second start this season. Mike Van Ryn, despite feeling well over the last week, has finally been cleared to play for the Blue and White after suffering a mild concussion in mid December.
It will be his second appearance, and is confirmed by Ron Wilson to be only a one game stint. Since both Joseph and Toskala have not skated in a few days due to the All-Star break, both Wilson and Burke felt it to be a good idea to bring up the fresh Justin Pogge for tonight’s game.
On Thursday, the Leafs will visit the Colorado Avalanche and will see Darcy Tucker and Andrew Raycroft – both would love to get the win and stick it to their former club. It also marks a potential return for Jeff Finger, who suffered an upper body injury on January 9th.
The Leafs have a tough week ahead of them – Wild tonight, Avalanche Thursday, Penguins Saturday – but with returnees from injury, they hope to get some momentum going and jump out of their recent slump. If they do not, the team could find themselves in the bottom 3 of the league as early as Friday morning.
Micheal A. Aldred
michealaldred@hotmail.com
January 27th, 2009 at 1:56 am
All the best for Justin Pogge. He better shine throughout all the opportunities he’s been given by Burke and Wilson.
January 27th, 2009 at 2:09 am
Shine throughout all the opportunities he’s been given? They’ve given him 2 games this year, last season he didn’t get anything, and the guy’s been stuck in the Marlies with everyone criticizing him on how terrible he’ll be. What opportunities?
January 27th, 2009 at 2:43 am
Pogge’s apparently been on fire since his last stint with the big club; not sure where you’d find the numbers but his play has been excellent, and his save percentage is now back above nine hundred.
January 27th, 2009 at 6:41 am
unless pogge gets shelled .hes been a success ..but this is almost like tellin pogge he has to shut out the wild or else .tough game for sure .but its good ro see the kid getting some press
January 27th, 2009 at 7:22 am
“shut out the wild or else”… what? Wilson has already publicly stated that regardless of his performance, Pogge will be going back to the Marlies. Smart move, takes the pressure off the kid altogether.
January 27th, 2009 at 8:02 am
He can say that he’s going back down regardless, but if he doesn’t perform what are the chances that he’ll be back up any time soon? If he has a good showing, it certainly does strengthen Burke’s position when trying to move Toskala.
Finger and Van Ryn coming back could seriously change the way other teams look at playing us.
January 27th, 2009 at 9:51 am
TANK LEAFS TANK
January 27th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Is Pogge a starter ? His hype has been long over due to prove himself. I see that Burke is caught between a rock and a hard place by maybe marketing Toskala while developing a young goalie. The most logical situation would be to hold on to Toskala until next year and bring Pogge up as a back up and a way to push Toskala to his best. Toskala hs always been a great goalie splitting time with Nabokov and an aging Joseph does not help light the fire. Pogge needs a chance and he is getting one. Some experience this year will help him maybe split time next year and potentially take the starting role when Toskala becomes a UFA next year. Could Toskala’s trade value get any worse right now ? All the best to Pogge, he has earned this opportunity, it is hard to play in front of a constantly dismantled Marlies Team.
January 27th, 2009 at 11:24 am
If Toskala is still there next year, then at LEAST, they should split the games. Pogge has totally been shafted the entire time he’s been in Toronto. This isn’t just some goalie, he’s suppose to be a #1. He should have been given NHL experience years ago (at least a game or two!). You can tell me how bad his stats are in the Marlies, I don’t care. There’s great goalies out there who didn’t get great until they were a bit older, but at least they were given chances. If you play Pogge 20 games a year as a backup, then that’s all he’s ever gonna be. Let him run the rest of the season, or split with Toskala, then if he sucks, make him a backup next year.
What better time to find out if he’s got what it takes than right now, when we don’t really needs Wins, but if we get them with Pogge, we win in the long term.
January 27th, 2009 at 11:50 am
goldenleafs, i agree with you, but i think that scenario would work better if they cant move toskala are forced to split them next year. lets not forget that pogge only split time with clemmenson last year and he’s getting his chance as #1 ahead of munro this year, so im ok with him getting the full load on the marlies this year and splitting with toskala next year, assuming vesa is still around. anyways, we cant really assume how the scenario with toskala will play out, but im ok with testing pogge more next season…on the other hand, if they can get any reasonable value for vesa before the deadline, bring pogge up and give him the job ahead of cujo for the remainder of the season
January 27th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I think this is a very crafty move. It sends a message to Pogge, and to Toskala. The odd man out in this all is CuJo. VeTo has started 41 of 47 games for us this year. CuJo has had 5 starts, and Pogge 1.
Toskala hasn’t been great, but neither has our team defence. Plus, we’re overplaying him. 41 out of 47 is insane if you consider that your top guy should play 60 – 65 games in a season (unless you have Kipper, Brodeur or Luongo as your #1). He’s on pace to start something like 70 + games…and I think the wear and tear on his body is evident in his stats along with our lack of commitment to team defence and our brutal penalty kill.
What is tying Burke’s hands is the fact that CuJo hasn’t retired yet. Don’t get me wrong here…I love the guy. He was great for us back in the day, but he is not what we need right now. I just wonder how long he sits on the bench until he finally gives up hope. He’s got 450 for wins, and quite honestly, would serve Toskala & Pogge better as a goalie coach. Hirsch could then concentrate on helping Reimer to develop on the Marlies.
I think Wilson and Burke are treating all 3 guys in this situation with as much class as possible. With a prime UFA class this year, and the fact that marquee free agents have avoided signing in TO for sometime, I think Burkie & Wilson’s handling of this situation is also an effort to boost the image of the club among hockey’s elite talent and will pay off in the long run and perhaps even the short term. Plus, they’ve got to do something to help the guys keep a fresh competitive edge, and maybe this is just the thing to do it.
January 27th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Not sure what the message is when Wilson already stated Pogge will be sent back down after this game, regardless of what happens. Only messages I see are “We are confused on what to do with our goalies” or “We’re showcasing Pogge for a trade”
January 27th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
What is this talk of trading Pogge? I have seen it on several sites, what a ridiculous notion, where did this idea come from? Certainly not as a result of the depth of the Leafs organization in goal.
January 27th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
To goldenleafs:
I beg to differ. I don’t think Pogge’s been shafted one bit. You have to earn your way to the pros. I’m not convinced he has shown any improvement until this year’s training camp and in his league play in recent weeks. I’m with you though, that Pogge will need some more NHL starts to prove what he can do. From the sounds of things he’ll get his chance. I truly hope he’s good enough for the pros. Only time will tell.
January 28th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Ouch.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:42 am
ugh……the wheels are really coming off. Ron Wilson’s post game scrum was well said though.
January 28th, 2009 at 8:09 am
The loss wasn’t Pogge’s fault. The defense left him hanging all night. Ron Wilson said it best: “it was like they pulled his pants down.”
Good for Pogge to get this sort of experience at the NHL level out of the way early. It should help him in the long run, and given that Wilson went out of his way to deflect the criticism away from Pogge, this performance should not hurt him, in terms of when he is recalled.
January 28th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Didn’t get to see the game as I had one of my own to attend. I am hearing that he was left out to dry. Can someone break down the action for me ie…good goals bad goals??
January 28th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Wasted Year,
The first goal was a bad goal. Wrist shot from the top for the circle over Pogge’s glove. He’d like that one back. Second goal was terrible coverage by Pony, as MA Bergeron came in from the point and one-timed a shot past Pogge. No chance!! Third goal was a 2-on-one where Kubina pinched with no support and the Wild player passed over to PM Bouchard. He went high glove off the one-timer. No chance!!! The fourth goal was a play where Pogge thought was icing. He was signaling that they were calling icing, but they weren’t. The Wild player won the race for the puck (Pogge should probably have come out to play it), and made a backhanded pass out front to Brunette who was wide-open – terrible coverage, but might be due to Pogge’s “icicng mistake”!! No chance on the shot as it was a one-timer again!! Fith goal was a breakaway by PM Bouchard. Terrible giveaway in the neutral zone. Pogge got beat bad, but again brutal play causes the turnover. Sixth goal was a one-timer again (surprised???). Nolan was camped out to Pogge’s right wide-open, just below the faceoff circle. They passed cross-crease and Nolan put it in the empty net!!
By my count, there were 4 one-timers and a breakaway goals. Just goes to show how brutal the coverage was!! Pogge did make some really nice saves, including some more one-times!!
January 28th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mJD3X-iyFU
An good interview with Pogge that show’s he’s quite poised and mature despite a loss like that. Didn’t go blaming his defense either though they left him to die out there.
January 28th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Burn,
January 28th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Meant to follow that last post with a “thanks Bud”
January 28th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
No prob wasted years!!
It’s probably better that you missed the game, it was very hard to watch. I’m all for losing, but that was ridiculous!!!
I’ve never seen so many missed assignments, blown coverage and terrible team play.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Yeah I have heard that from the boys at the office as well.
I have found myself not getting upset with every loss this year because losing (in a way) is in our best interest however, I really want to believe Pogge is the real deal and was hoping for a favorable result for him last night. I have gone to see him with the Marlies on many occaisions and I am not sold on him as a number one but I really want to be.
All thats left for us this year is to see progress from the youth and see what Burkie can pull off at the deadline.
What are your thoughts on Wilson?
January 28th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Yeah, a high pick and good draft is about all we got to look forward too!! I don’t mind the losses, I just don’t like to see them go down so hard!! Everyone had a terrible game!! I would hope for a close game loss, and the development of the youngsters.
As for Wilson, I don’t know. They were supposed to be better defensively and on the PK than in previous years, but it’s not happening. I thought they’d be weak offensively and pretty good defensively, but it’s been the opposite. I do like that he’s trying to get rid of the entitlement of the Leaf players. They’ve got to start working for their pay, not just rely on the fact that they are Leafs!! Wilson better start turning things around defensively next year or they’re in trouble.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Yeah I agree. The PK was exactly what was on my mind. Guys like Moore and Mayers are supposed experts at this and with Shcenn, Kubina and Finger it’s not like he doesn’t have the tools. He comes in with good credability however I have been left wanting more from him. Not sure what it is but I’m just not sold.
Enjoy the game tonight. I may be asking for your opinion on it as well as I have my own game to play again……Going to have to look into who is doing the scheduling.
Hope they dress Hollweg and Tucker Pumbels him. Darcy had to go but I loved his intensity in his early years.