Andy007 said:
I do remember that Pierre MacGuire was over the moon about the deal for the Leafs so that isn't exactly true.
Raycroft had a .926 SP two years before the trade and was injured the following year; Leafs had 2 top goalie prospects so it wasn't exactly a head scratcher. I think the perception has changed a bit, considering Pogge's subsequent futility and Rask's success but I can't remember much of the perception surrounding the deal (apart from MacGuire's positive assessment).
Well, that's why I said "pretty much everyone" rather than simply "everyone." Around here, the deal was widely panned as being, as I said, bad and unnecessary. On top of that, guys like Gerber,
Legace and others along those lines were UFAs that summer - any of which would have been good enough for a couple years until the Leafs really know what they had in both Rask and Pogge. Macguire was about the only person I remember who really liked the deal for the Leafs. At best, other media members recognized the Leafs paid a hefty price for a guy they were, at best, cautiously optimistic about.