Raycroft’s record means nothing

On its own, maybe not, which is why I provided the context. His record against tough opponents was better than Budaj’s, which is why he got the tougher assignments.

He was winning games against awful opponents 6 – 5

His only 6-5 victory came against Detroit, though as an Avs fan, I understand that you might consider the Wings to be awful. Hell, even Budaj beat them once.

The awful wins against awful teams might include:

Beating Dallas 5-4
Beating Phoenix 5-4

and maybe you would include:

Beating Tampa 4-3 as an awful victory (though it did help his GAA).

Raycroft has so many bad stats that are factual, you don’t need to start making things up. Why not state that he was winning games 10-9 against awful teams, if facts aren’t important to your assessment?

I’m not suggesting that W-L records on their own determine who the beter goalie was, but when Raycroft has to face the tough opponents so often, and often in consecutive games, and he somehow manages to get the Win, that he is not necessarily as bad as he is made out to be.

Of Raycroft’s 12 wins, three of them came while allowing more than three goals, and only the Phoenix win could be called an “awful” opponent, if you completely disregard what Jibbles pointed out above – that the Coyotes were playing well at the time, and that Budaj failed twice to get the Win against them.

His bad Save % and GAA was not due to his wins, and he rarely got a chance to play the awful teams. His numbers sucked due to his many, many losses which came mostly at the hands of playoff teams (11 of his 16).

W 5-2 vs Pha (0-2-1)
W 5-4 @ Dal (1-2-1) on one day’s rest; travel
L 4-2 vs Cls (3-6-0)
Started @ Anh (11-8-3), hurt while trailing 1-0 on PPG; Budaj lost game 4-1
W 4-3 vs TB (6-9-7)
W 3-2 @ Det (20-5-4)
W 2-1 @ TB (7-15-8) on two days’ rest; travel
W 5-4 vs Phx (17-15-5)
W 2-1 @ Nas (17-18-3)
W 2-1 vs Chi (22-8-7) on one day’s rest; travel
W 5-3 vs Pit (20-16-4) on one day’s rest

This is how Raycroft actually arrived at his 9-1 record. Philly wasn’t awful, they were 0-2-1. Dallas was considered Cup contenders, though started 1-2-1. A start in Anaheim at 11-8-3 wasn’t an easy assignment. The first win against Tampa was against a team at 6-9-7. His first win in Detroit at 20-5-4 was the toughest game on the entire schedule. Nashville was no pushover at 17-18-3. Victories in the next four days over 22-8-7 Chicago and 20-16-4 Pittsburgh were impressive.

The loss to Columbus and the 4-3 win over Tampa were the only blemishes on an otherwise stellar season-to-date.

He went into a slump, losing to the surging Blue Jackets, then dropping an easy game against Edmonton. He entered the Kings game early in the 2nd, trailing 4-1, and was charged with Budaj’s 6-5 loss, but that marked his 6th game in 15 days.

Immediately after the break, he lost to the powerhouse Sharks 3-0 with an empty-netter and on one day’s rest, got blown out by the Leafs. Finally, Granato gave him two weeks off, and he responded with 3 wins in 5 days, against Detroit, Clouston’s red-hot Senators, and Washington.

At this point in the season, Raycroft was 12-7 on a horrible Avs team, after having secured 6 victories against playoff teams plus the Sens. Even ignoring the Philly win in October, he had defeated three of the four eventual Conference Finalists (Detroit twice), as well as number-two seed Washington. He broke up Clouston’s 5-game win streak, and hung tough against San Jose in a 2-0 game.

He was pretty awful the rest of the season, though he continued to face the toughest challenges:

Allowed four goals to the surging Hurricanes in his 4th start in 7 days
Continued abuse on the long road trip with games in NJ and NYR in the next few days
A 3-2 loss to Detroit in his 8th game in 17 days
A 4-2 loss in Vancouver when the Canucks were climbing into the division lead
A 3-1 loss in San Jose
A 4-1 loss to Vancouver
Allowing 2 goals against Phoenix during the while the offense had already quit scoring goals
A 1-0 loss to the red-hot Blues to close it out

For all of the good games and wins that Raycroft had this year, I would like any of you to point out his list of bad games. I have him down for:

A weak 5-4 Win in Dallas, one one day’s rest and travel, against a 1-2-1 Stars team that many called to win the Pacific
A 4-2 loss to Columbus
A weak 5-4 Win vs a winning Phoenix team
A 7-4 embarrassment to the Leafs, that likely formed the basis of PPP’s opinion of Raycroft’s “poor” season
His second victory against Detroit when he allowed 5 goals
A slew of games where he allowed 4 goals that came during the Ti4T era against the league’s best (@Car, @NJ, @Vcr, vs Anh, vs Vcr)

the doctor stated that “he was winning games against awful opponents 6 – 5”, when the truth is that Raycroft allowed more than 4 on only two occasions – the 6-5 win vs Detroit and his one truly horrible game, against the Leafs.

The rest of the season was, at worst, not great. At best, it was far better than Budaj’s year, considering his strength of opposition.