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Bruins Still Benefitting From Jeff Gorton’s Moves as Interim GM in 2006

By Scott Roche

BUFFALO, NY - JUNE 25: New York Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton and New York Rangers Director, European Scouting Nickolai Bobrov looks on during the 2016 NHL Draft on June 25, 2016 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
BUFFALO, NY - JUNE 25: New York Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton and New York Rangers Director, European Scouting Nickolai Bobrov looks on during the 2016 NHL Draft on June 25, 2016 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Boston Bruins, Tuukka Rask #40 (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Boston Bruins, Tuukka Rask #40 (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

The Bruins and Maple Leafs swap goalies on draft day.

The first move by Gorton on draft day in 2006, he traded goalie Andrew Raycroft to the Maple Leafs for the rights to a young prospect goalie named Tuukka Rask.

Raycroft spent five of his 11 professional years in Boston. He went 43-46-12 with the Bruins, with his best season coming in during the 2003-04 season. That season, he went 29-18-9 with all three of his shutouts with the Black and Gold. He finished the regular season with a 2.05 goals-against average (GAA) and a .926 save percentage (SV%).

Things did not well for Raycroft and the Bruins in the playoffs. After finishing as Northeast Division champs, they played their long-time rival Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, where the Bruins blew a 3-1 series lead, including losing Game 7 at home 2-0 after being shutout by Jose Theodore.

Rask broke onto the scene for the Bruins in 2010, but after Tim Thomas backboned a playoff run in 2011 to the Stanley Cup and one more solid year in Boston with 35 wins in 2011-12, Rask took over the reins from the veteran netminder.

Rask has won 291 games with the Bruins and has led them back to the Stanley Cup Final two other times when they came up short against the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013 and the St. Louis Blues in 2019.

He won the Vezina Trophy in 2013 and finished second this past season. He won 30 or more games for five consecutive seasons from 2013-14 through 2017-18. He won 27 games two seasons ago and 26 this season. He has a 2.26 GAA and a .922 SV% in his career.

The 33-year old Rask will begin the 2020-21 season on the final year of an eight-year, $56 million deal. He left the Toronto playoff bubble over the summer to go home for a family emergency, but the Bruins expect him back for the upcoming season.

He has done just about everything a goalie can do in the NHL except winning that elusive championship. That’s the only thing missing from his resume, but without that trade by Gorton, who knows what the Bruins’ goaltending would have looked like the last decade.

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