The improbable bounces of a hockey life find a career also-ran such as Michael Leighton two wins away from a trip to the Stanley Cup final.
He is a goaltender who has made kick saves and been kicked around like few goalies have — including a 17-day stint with the Montreal Canadiens team he has shut out twice in these playoffs.
“The easiest thing for anyone to do now is sit back and ask: ‘How did all these hockey people pass on him?’ For whatever reason, he always seemed to be the guy who fell through the cracks. I don’t know why,” said Mike Liut, who is friend and agent to Leighton, and a former NHL goaltender himself.
To understand this Philadelphia story, you have to begin at the beginning.
Leighton, a Petrolia native who turned 29 on Wednesday, was a Chicago Blackhawks draft pick off the Windsor Spitfires, taken in the sixth round of 1999, one round after Ryan Miller was chosen by Buffalo.
“He was tracking very well in his early years with the Chicago farm team,” Liut said. “He and Craig Anderson were the goalies and you’d have to say Michael outplayed Craig at that time.”
“But in his third (minor-league) year, he was having groin and hip issues and Trent Yawney (his coach at Norfolk) wasn’t playing him, but he was practising every day. He probably shouldn’t have been practicing and Yawney thought he should have been playing. To be honest, I was a little oblivious to their problem. I should have been more involved.”
That summer, Yawney was named coach of the Blackhawks and, no surprise, Leighton was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in a deal nobody paid any attention to.
“Of all the teams I thought they’d trade him to, I never thought Buffalo,” said Liut. “They already had Miller, Mika Noronen and Marty Biron. Michael fell into something of a vortex there. It was a terrible position to be in. There wasn’t a chance in the world he was going to get called up.”
Signed by Burke
Not to mention he had a terrible first and only season in Rochester.
In 2006, after the lockout ended, Brian Burke signed Leighton as a free agent in Anaheim on the recommendation of his assistant, Bob Murray, who had drafted Leighton originally while he was GM of the Blackhawks.
Leighton never did play a game for the Ducks. Midway through his first season in the Anaheim organization, the Ducks lost Leighton through re-entry waivers when Nashville put in a claim,
Leighton made one start for the Predators before being placed on waivers and claimed by Philadelphia. He made three starts for the Flyers, four for their minor-league affiliate before — guess what — being waived, again.
“Every time somebody needed a goalie, they wound up with Michael,” said Liut.
Just not for very long. In February 2007, Leighton was claimed on waivers by the Canadiens and how ironic does that seem in retrospect? He was with the Habs for all of 17 games, dressed for two of them, never played.
That six-month season alone, Leighton’s head was spinning, having been owned by four different NHL teams and, by June, Montreal had seen enough, trading him to Carolina for a seventh-round draft pick.
“He took a big step forward in his career with us,” said Jim Rutherford, the Carolina general manager and also a former goaltender. “He did some very good things for us. He was the AHL goalie of the year. We promoted him to be Cam Ward’s backup.”
But when Ward got hurt this season, Rutherford didn’t want Leighton as his starter. He signed the veteran Manny Legace and gave an opportunity to young Justin Peters rather than trust Leighton in a prominent position.
A month after signing Legace, around the same day Peter Laviolette was hired as coach of the Flyers, the Hurricanes placed Leighton on waivers. Every NHL team passed on the opportunity.
Ten days after Laviolette was hired, and mostly on the recommendation of assistant coach Kevin McCarthy, the rather desperate Flyers, almost out of goalies, claimed Leighton on re-entry waivers. The cost to them: $180,000 US well spent in salary. Maybe the best 180 grand the Flyers have ever spent.
“This was all part of his circus,” said Liut. “The tops have always been spinning for Michael. The good thing is, Michael is very even-keeled. He has a great disposition and a lot of confidence in his ability. A lot of guys couldn’t have handled what he’s been through.
“Even when we was playing well for Philly, and then he got hurt, his reaction was to be calm.”
He had to be when he came off a high ankle sprain to play 14 minutes of Game 6 against the Bruins, holding on to a 1-0 lead. And he had to be in Game 7, when he got down three goals in the first period of what was his first Stanley Cup start. Since then, two starts against Montreal, two shutouts.
“This is when you have to play your best hockey as a goalie,” said Liut. “And he’s doing it. This is chance to establish himself and he deserves it.”
