Bruins trade former ROY goaltender Raycroft: The push for the #1 pick in 2007 begins in earnest!!

Yesterday, the B's "just for now" General Manager Jeff Gorton traded a proven, quality goaltender in Andrew Raycroft for an unproven, possibly unquality 19 year old goalie named Tuukka Rask. The trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs continues the Boston team's goal of unloading every decent player on the roster for shiite. Said Gorton after the dead: "We're well into our plan of accumulating every bad to mediocre player in the league. We very badly want that first pick in the 2007 NHL Draft, since I read on the internet that there should be some pretty good prospects available. Whether we keep them, or continue trading them away for shiite, well, we can't predict the future." Way to go, Jeff! Here's Jeff on Tuukka: "I had never heard the name before last night, but knowing that Raycroft had the potential to actually win some games for us....well he had to go. And hopefully this new guy, Rask, can't speak a word of English, making any interaction with his defensemen impossible. Guess we'll find out when we get in touch with him. Hey, do any of you media guys know which country this dude is from? We thought maybe Finland, but there's like 300 Tuukka Rask's listed in their phone book. We need to call this guy and have him working his way out of shape quickly, because training camp starts in about 2 months, and we don't want anyone showing up our other stiffs."

In the past year: 2005-06 MVP of the league, Joe Thornton? Gone! Sergei Samsanov? Gone! The Razor? Now, gone!

The Bruins, one of the Original Six NHL franchises, are already in a heated competition with the Chicago Black Hawks for the 2007 Cleveland Barons Trophy, awarded annually to the lousiest run team in the league. Named after the Barons, who were absolutely abysmal in their brief lifetime, the award has, in the past, been awarded to the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes a record five times, with numerous other franchises winning it multiple times. But now that Carolina has won the Stanley Cup, the Bruins see a clear opening. Again, here's GM Gorton: "We may not win the Conn Smythe, the Lady Bing, the Pie McKenzie, or even the Dick Van Patten next year, but I'll be damned if we let another team snag the Baron. Hell, we've already got space in our trophy case in the new Garden ready and waiting.....lots and lots of space."

Harry ("He traded Bobby Orr") Sinden's legacy continues to grow.

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Apparently, in a mistake that B's management vows not to repeat, Rask is considered a good prospect, one of the better young goalies in the world.

The problem being that the Boston organization already has the rights to the #1 goaltending prospect right now, a guy named Hannu Toivonen, whom they drafted in 2002. So I guess if the idea is so suck as badly as possible, then trading for a guy with some actual skill makes sense only if you have another guy better than him, thus insuring that Rask will never get any ice time. Smart. Sneaky smart.