Andrew Raycroft

Raycroft signed a two-year deal with Dallas in the offseason and will serve as the backup to oft-injured Kari Lehtonen. He could end up as one of the busier backups in the league if Lehtonen gets injured again, but he'll be playing behind a poor Dallas defense and doesn't figure to post great goals-against average or win totals as a result.

Raycroft was brought to Vancouver to compete for the backup goaltending job. After losing starting gigs in Toronto and Colorado the past two seasons, Raycroft appears to be best served as a reserve. Unfortunately, he'll be backing up Roberto Luongo, who starts 70+ games when healthy.

After a miserable 2007-08 season in Toronto, the Avalanche are hoping that Raycroft can bounce back the same way Jose Theodore did for them last year. Colorado goalie coach Jeff Hackett worked wonders with Theodore last season and is an old teammate of Raycroft's in Boston. The competition between Raycroft and Peter Budaj needs to be watched throughout training camp, as the winner will surely hold fantasy value in the 2008-09 season. However, we expect Razor to wind up as the Avs' number two netminder this season.

Razor set a new franchise record for wins this past season with 37 (ninth in the NHL) but quite simply failed to be the difference maker when it mattered the most. He allowed too many soft goals and was yanked not once, but twice in the last five games of the season when the Buds were desperate to win that eighth and final playoff spot. The arrival of Vesa Toskala and the team's subsequent extension of the former Shark's contract pretty much relegate Razor to the back-up role. Sure, he might get 30 games but that's not enough for fantasy teams (except those with daily transactions). A trade might be in the offing but even that's a stretch -- no-one bit when the Leafs dangled him over the summer. Draft as a back-up only.

The NHL’s reigning Calder Cup winner as rookie of the year heading into ’05-’06, Raycroft had a season bad enough to have created the idea of a sophomore slump if one hadn’t existed before. He struggled, lost his job, won it back, lost it again and got hurt, before getting traded to Toronto on draft day. He enters the season as the Leafs’ #1 goalie, but they have plenty of depth in goal with J-S Aubin and Mikael Tellqvist and Raycroft did not have much of a prospect pedigree before his big rookie season. He could regain his form, but he could be another Bruins one-year wonder like Jim Carrey – Raycroft is too big a risk to draft as a starting fantasy goalie.

Razor was supposed to back up Felix Potvin in 2003-04 but quickly rose to number one with an Calder trophy winning performance. Calm and cool under pressure, this athletic goalie will continue to perform well for the Bruins. However, he will be pushed by uber-prospect Hannu Toivonen who could force Razor out of Boston sooner than some people think. If your pool counts wins in addition to goals-against average and save percentage, Razor is your man and will come cheaper than the top-shelf guys.