COVER YOUR FIVE HOLES!

[Vadered]

CSNPhilly says we've resigned Leighton.

Great.

 

[scottflyers88]

as a backup? please as a backup.

 

[scottflyers88]

he also said the flyers are interested in foster and michalek. foster is so underrated right now.

 

[awaz]

thats gotta be as a starter.. boosh is signed and will be the backup this season i can promise you that..

looks like they are going to go the leighton/boosh route to start the season and sign some more defense to bolster that instead.. fine with (even like) the idea (save money on the goalie, spend on the D), just don't like the goalie.. leighton is not a starting NHL goalie

 

[scottflyers88]

2 years 3.1 mil according to lebrun's twitter.

whether he is a backup or starter this is just a great deal. i hope it is for the backup.

actually i think homer might not even know yet. think about it. tomorrow homer will call some goalies and give them his offers (nabokov already knows his offer), and if they sign then they sign. if not, he will give some defensemen offers and see what happens.

it looks like it will either be leighton as a backup and sign a better goalie or go with leighton and boucher and sign a good defenseman.

 

[dash]

I think this is a wise move by Philly, seriously I think whichever teams land Turco or Nabakov will be disappointed as I think both of those goalies have "jumped the shark".

 

[lasgop8]

I really hope Leighton is signed as a backup because i am tired of hearing the same things year after year that if we had a goalie we would have won the cup. Just once i'd like to see how it would be with a really good goalie for a change.

 

[scottflyers88]

i feel the same. like i said, i do not even think homer knows yet. it seems like it is up to the free agents and whether or not they want to sign here.

 

[scottflyers88]

ok looks like i was right. panaccio said the flyers will still pursue a goalie.

 

[awaz]

I think this is a wise move by Philly, seriously I think whichever teams land Turco or Nabakov will be disappointed as I think both of those goalies have "jumped the shark".

for the right price i would've liked one of these guys.. apparently they wanted too much money though so i'm ok with going cheap on a goalie.. i just dont think leighton is the guy the should've gone cheap on.. i would rather see nitty or ellis.. i could score on leighton's five hole and i can barely ice skate (much better on dry land with roller blades haha)

 

[scottflyers88]

well at least they know leighton can get them there. and if no goalie signs here and he is our starter then they should be able to upgrade their defense. solid move.

 

[soulxflare]

thats gotta be as a starter.. boosh is signed and will be the backup this season i can promise you that..

looks like they are going to go the leighton/boosh route to start the season and sign some more defense to bolster that instead.. fine with (even like) the idea (save money on the goalie, spend on the D), just don't like the goalie.. leighton is not a starting NHL goalie

Call me a homer, but I very much disagree. He was never given a legitimate chance before this year, and once he got said chance he ran with it. Say what you want about the teams we had to play, but he was 1st and 2nd in GAA and Save%, respectively, of all playoff goaltenders that started 10 or more games (Player Stats - 2009-2010 - Playoffs - Goalie - Save % Leaders - Save Percentage - NHL.com - Stats).

I'm not crowning him the starter, but at a 1.55M cap hit, he's a steal. He deserves a chance to compete for and earn the #1 job for next year.

I do agree, however, that they certainly need to work on his five-hole protection in the offseason.

 

[shutout0027]

not really sure how i feel about this one yet. Once Free Agency hits tomorrow and the Flyers make more moves i will have a better idea but at first glance i would rather have Mason or even Ellis. However, if we go out and get a volchenkov (most likely a pipe dream but would love it) or another top dman and another winger then we are talking. Basically if we improve the team as much as we can in the d core and give Giroux some help, Leights isnt a bad option at the price. Turco is on the downslope and Nabokov wants a ton of money, something we dont have the luxury of.

 

[soulxflare]

not really sure how i feel about this one yet. Once Free Agency hits tomorrow and the Flyers make more moves i will have a better idea but at first glance i would rather have Mason or even Ellis. However, if we go out and get a volchenkov (most likely a pipe dream but would love it) or another top dman and another winger then we are talking. Basically if we improve the team as much as we can in the d core and give Giroux some help, Leights isnt a bad option at the price. Turco is on the downslope and Nabokov wants a ton of money, something we dont have the luxury of.

I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say the following two things are true:

Leights @ 1.55M > Ellis at 2M+
Leights @ 1.55M > Turco at 2M+

 

[shutout0027]

agree with you there soulxflare

 

[h X c Chris]

I like it, back up or starter it will still leave us with money to either make moves now or at the trade deadline. Leighton showed us that he can play at an elite level, now we just need to see if he can do it on a regular basis.

 

[awaz]

see i'd rather have turco at 2mil, but no higher.. i think i'd relax a little more with turco back there then i would with leighton back there.. i haven't ever been able to come to grips with leighton because the goaltending all last season was almost exactly the same (IMO).. the team just started to play a shit ton better whenever leighton started playing.. boosh got a terrible rap last year when he started for a month in between emery's injury and his.. he lost almost every game, but also got less than a goal per game from the team..

by no means do i think this dooms the flyers.. i think they'll be fine.. i've always defended the flyers for going cheap on the goalie, i think its the right move and always have.. the flyers proved this season that a good defense can make a mediocre goalie look great..

to dispute myself.. leighton is very sound positionally 9 times out of 10, which is all he needs to be behind the flyers defense, especially if it improves.. and the stuff he's gotta work on his very specific.. fixing a five hole problem should be an off-season task that he can handle.. and our goalie coach (reese? or was that the old one?) had a very solid first season.. what other goalie coach had to coach 7 different guys and still got all of them to improve?

and 1.55mil is a great deal, i fully agree with that

 

[scottflyers88]

i kind of figured they would sign him before free agency which is the right move.

and jeff reese was our goaltending coach last year.

 

[beantownmaniac]

I thought this was the title of a bad **** movie

 

[anderwho2513]

From twitter:

tpanotch

CSN's John Boruk/myself did the math: not enough $$ to sign another goalie, re-sign Coburn, add a d-man, UNLESS you lose $5 mill in trade

He's the starter. I don't mind it that much, mostly because I don't care who the goalie is for the next 2 years as long as he is only the starter for 2 more years. After that, we got it covered.