TORONTO - Potential is no longer mentioned when talking about Justin Pogge.

View Large

Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Justin Pogge reacts after letting in a third goal against the Boston Bruins in their NHL hockey game in Toronto March 28, 2009.

Photograph by : Reuters

ARTICLE TOOLS

• Printer friendly
• E-mail

Font:

• *
• *
• *
• *

It has been five years since he was drafted 90th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs, and more than three years since he backstopped Canada to a gold medal victory at the world junior championship. And after a disastrous NHL debut, it has been months since anyone within the franchise referred to the 23-year-old as the club's goaltender of the future.

Instead, with the team having recently signed Swedish free agent Jonas Gustavsson to challenge for the Leafs' No. 1 spot - and with prospect James Reimer expected to start the season for the Toronto Marlies - Pogge is now in danger of being the goaltender who is simply forgotten.

"Justin Pogge is basically comparable to a child actor, who's had success at a young age and just can't handle it mentally," said Steve McKichan, who was the Leafs' goaltending coach from 2005-06 through 2007-08.

"You see the railroad wreck in a lot of cases of child actors when they become adults. In some degree, when the same type of success comes early to athletes, unless you have the coping skills and support around you, it's difficult to handle that type of centre-stage pressure. Some can push through it and some can't."

Like the child actor who has difficulty landing an audition once his voice matures, Pogge has had his share of growing pains. In three years with the American Hockey League's Marlies, he was mediocre at best. And in seven games with the Leafs last season, he posted a 1-4-1 record with a bloated 4.36 goals-against average.

Still, it might be too early to give up on a six-foot-three goaltender whose development might have been stunted in the spotlight.

"I have full faith that he can be a great NHL goaltender," said McKichan.

"And I have no doubt, that if handled properly and if he matures as a human being, that he'll be able to do it. He has the physical skills. He's a tireless worker. And he's extremely coachable.

"There's nothing bad I can say about him. He's just a young kid who got put into a difficult situation. He came in as the saviour - and not to take anything away from him - but he's got to earn his stripes."

Pogge never asked to be the saviour. No one ever does. But when the team traded former first-round pick Tuukka Rask to the Boston Bruins for Andrew Raycroft in 2007, the fate of the Leafs' goaltending future rested solely on his shoulders.

That pressure was only amplified last season when Pogge made his long-awaited NHL debut in December. At the time, Leafs general manager Brian Burke made it clear that Pogge had not earned the promotion. But with the team out a playoff spot, it was as good a time as any to evaluate his development.

It was not an ideal situation. Though Pogge won his first NHL game against the lowly Atlanta Thrashers, he was back in the minors the next day. A month went by before he was recalled again.

Out of rhythm and rusty, he lost each of his next five starts, confirming what Burke and others seemed to already know: Pogge was not the future of the Leafs.

"When you're set up with that type of media approach that you haven't earned the opportunity, but we're going to put you in anyway, any goalie is going to find it extremely difficult, especially in the fishbowl of Toronto," said McKichan. "He was destined to fail."

The team is apparently not taking the same approach with Gustavsson. The 23-year-old, who has no NHL experience and limited exposure to North American ice surfaces, is exempt from participating in rookie camp. And, unlike Pogge, he will have the benefit of honing his craft under Francois Allaire.

"The saving grace now is that you've got the best goalie coach in the history of the NHL working with the Leafs," McKichan said. "So if anybody can turn it around in that development it's Francois Allaire, who I have the utmost respect for."

National Post

mtraikos@nationalpost.com