Toronto Maple Leafs Former Top Goalie Prospect Retiring
A former Toronto Maple Leafs top goalie prospect has announced that he is retiring from hockey this past weekend.
Justin Pogge who was drafted in the third round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs was once thought of as being the future number-one goalie for the organization, but was never ever able to live up to the hype.
Pogge had a successful junior career that saw him win Western Hockey League Most Valuable Player in 2005-06, as well CHL and WHL goalie of the year the same season after posting a 1.72 goals against average and .926 save percentage for the Calgary Hitman.
The Fort McMurray jumped up in the eyes of the clubs management after helping Canada to the Gold medal during the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championships.
Toronto Maple Leafs Former Top Goalie Prospect Retiring
Pogge registered a perfect 6-0 record while posting a 1.00 GAA and a .952 save percentage, but lost out on the top goalie of the tournament award to fellow Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Tuukka Rask.
Management was so convinced that Pogge was the goalie of the future that the next off-season they elected to trade Rask for struggling goalie Andrew Raycroft. The trade goes down as one of the worst trades in team history that is compounded by the fact that Pogge was never able to become a NHL regular let alone the franchise goalie.
Pogge would play just seven NHL games which all came during the 2008-09 season. He would post a 1-4-1 record with a 4.36 GAA and .844 Save Percentage before being traded to the Anaheim Ducks that upcoming off-season.
The former Hitman goalie would bounce around to five different cities playing in both the ECHL and AHL over the next three seasons before heading over to Europe for more than a decade.
Pogge would make stops in Italy, Sweden, Russia and Germany for eleven seasons, with the final five years playing in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in Germany.
This past month Pogge got into coaching with Hockey Canada and he is currently serving as a goalie consultant at the World Championships after serving in the same position at the U18 Hockey Championships in April.
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Pogge appears to be setting himself up for his second career as a goalie coach.