Leighton now “the guy”

by Eric Schwartz

Thursday March 4, 2010 

Leighton now “the guy” thumbnail

Forget everything you think you know about Michael Leighton. The fact that he has been a journeyman backup means nothing. The fact that he has had a fantastic year, which has produced a great winning percentage and a sub-three goals against average this season is also meaningless.

Right now everything changes. When the Flyers decided not to bring in a veteran goaltender to replace the injured Ray Emery by yesterday’s trade deadline, everything concerning Leighton changed. He was no longer a Cinderella story that had a nice little run at the NHL level.

He was now the undisputed No. 1 goalie for a Flyers team that has Stanley Cup aspirations. Now the pressure is on and soon we will find out how he handles his new position.

Those were the thoughts that ran threw my mind at 3:01 p.m. on Wednesday when it became clear that it would be Leighton from here on out.

As for his first presentation after the deadline? Well, it was a disaster. Leighton allowed four goals in a period and a half before being pulled in favor of Brian Boucher in a 7-4 loss to the Panthers.

Talk about a bad way to reward a management team that just put its faith in you.

Now Leighton cannot be judged by one bad outing but it was a rough start that will go along way in determining if management made the right call making a goalie who has not played more than 34 games in a season since his arrival in 2002, the guy.

For all that Leighton’s resume lacks, his production in 22 games with Philadelphia has been eye-opening. The team is 14-7-1 in games he has started and his 2.80 goals against average is more than acceptable for a team that scores at a 3.02 clip.

The issue at hands seems to be why the Flyers neglected to give Leighton any help at the deadline. If you are going to stick with a goalie who has had limited success in the past and lacks in the playoff experience department, why not load up the defense in front of him? GM Paul Holmgren said the team tried to bolster the team but nothing that would accomplish that could get done.

I’m sure Holmgren tried his best. But Pittsburgh, Washington, Ottawa and Buffalo all made moves to make themselves stronger moving forward. For those counting, each of those teams are ahead of the Flyers in the conference standings and stand in the way of the team’s quest for a Stanley Cup.

But there is no changing that now. All Flyers fans can do is hope Leighton takes his game to a level it has yet to reach.

Welcome to the fire Leighton.

Filed Under Flyers

Comments

Got something to say?