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 Flyers' Michael Leighton makes a save against the Blackhawks during Game 4 of the NHL Stanley Cup final hockey series in Philadelphia, June 4, 2010. (REUTERS/Tim Shaffer) |
CHICAGO - Could Michael Leighton lead the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup and find himself out of work almost immediately thereafter?
It could very well happen.
Leighton has no contract beyond this season and while many have assumed that he has earned a new deal with his play this season, there is no certainty of that in a flooded and volatile goaltender market.
If Flyers management figures Leighton as a one-trick pony on a magical ride, they may not be willing to commit to him beyond Games 5, 6 and 7.
The Flyers have yet to say anything official about the direction in which they are heading but they will have choices in what should be an active free-agent and trade market come the end of the season.
Among the best free agents available are Marty Turco of Dallas, Evgeni Nabakov of San Jose and Chris Mason of St. Louis.
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Assuming that one of the Montreal goalies, Jaroslav Halak or Carey Price, is made available by trade, that further complicates matters.
Either way, this, like Leighton’s run, is somewhat unprecedented and unpredictable.
Just how the Flyers choose to proceed will be worth monitoring.
This and that
Worth repeating: Don Cherry on why he didn’t run from the Philadelphia restaurant to help the man apparently drowning in the Delaware River: “I hadn’t finished my beer or my (Dave Bolland) story.” Said Ron MacLean afterwards: “If Grapes tells me one more Dave Bolland story, I’m jumping in the river.” ... Jonathan Toews’ playoff beard looks like he may have a future in the AHL — the Amish Hockey League, but others, including Toews himself, thinks he looks more like a young Wolverine from X-Men ... Dale Tallon on Antti Niemi, whom he signed for the Blackhawks: “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.” ... Rest in peace, John Wooden. Your legacy will be unmatched. Best coach, best teacher, any sport, any era ... It’s Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final here on Sunday night. Must-win for the Blackhawks. Meanwhile, the Flyers are an impressive 8-1 at home in the playoffs. The only loss was to Boston in Game 3, Round 2. Chicago can’t afford to lose tonight ... The Sunday Tweet You Can’t Possibly Live Without, courtesy of Chris Bosh: “Doing a little shopping today. Women’s fashion is very expensive. Shoes, bags and dresses are crazy.” And what if he was on your salary or mine?
Hear and there
How much does money influence fan reaction? When Vernon Wells was having a terrible season, he became everybody’s favourite high-paid whipping boy? Now that Adam Lind and Aaron Hill are having offensive seasons below anything Wells accomplished at his worst, the reaction is different. Maybe, it’s because the Blue Jays are winning and maybe it’s because neither is making $20 million a year. But combined, Lind and Hill went 1-for-11 Saturday, striking out seven times with Hill knocking in the game-winning run against the Yankees ... Some NHL team is going to end up very happy in drafting Kitchener’s Jeff Skinner with a first-round pick. He’s ranked 35th by Central Scouting but his former GTHL teammate Tyler Seguin and a whole lot of other people think he should be chosen Top 10 ... The NHL’s new general manager of the year award doesn’t have a name for two reasons: 1. The NHL is planning to rename a bunch of its trophies (James Norris to Bobby Orr, etc.) and will include the GM award with them; 2. The obvious name, the Sam Pollock Award, wrankles some hockey people who didn’t care for what they thought was Pollock’s condescending ways. So if that’s the case, it rules out the Glen Sather Award, because after all, he basically invented condescension.
Scene and heard
You watch the NBA playoffs and it’s not hard to realize just how far away the Raptors are from being a real contender. And you watch the Stanley Cup playoffs and you see the same with the Maple Leafs. But the one thing the Leafs have at 29th in the NHL that neither team in the Final has — it’s depth on defence. The 5th and 6th defenceman on the Leafs current roster, probably Luke Schenn and Mike Komisarek, maybe Carl Gunnarsson, are better than anyone Philadelphia or Chicago has at five or six ... Antti Niemi allowed just seven goals against in four games against the San Jose Sharks. In four games against the supposedly inferior Flyers, he has allowed twice that number ... A Stanley Cup discovery: Darroll Powe of the Flyers may not get any points but the more you watch him, the more you realize he does a lot of little things well. You win with players like that ... Carlos Delgado had hip surgery in February and now a number of big-league teams are waiting to find out if he’ll be able to play at the end of this month ... Word around is that Colorado, with all kinds of salary-cap room, has no intention of re-signing free-agent Darcy Tucker. Question is, does anybody else want Tucker at age 35, with all those miles on him?
And another thing
From the department of strange: The annual Roger Neilson Coaching Clinic gets going this week in Windsor and one of the presenters is Leafs’ assistant coach Rob Zettler. His subject: penalty killing. The Leafs, for the record, were last in the NHL in penalty killing with the worst penalty numbers in decades ... The Blue Jays aren’t about to give up on Dustin McGowan just yet, even after so many setbacks, because they don’t want another Chris Carpenter on their hands. If he’s going to get healthy and become successful, the Jays don’t want it happen somewhere else ... A week ago we were wondering why nobody could win at home in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Now, we’re wondering why no one can lose at home ... Danny Ferry basically did the honourable thing and resigned as general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers because he’d lost his authority to LeBron James and owner Dan Gilbert ... Larry Brown, paying the ultimate compliment to Steve Nash: “If you define to your own kid playing any team sport of how a teammate is supposed to act, that’s Steve Nash.” ... Happy birthday to Bjorn Borg (54), Ed Giacomin (71), Les Binkley (76), Cam Neely (45), Denis Dupere (62), Rueben Mayes (47), Jim (Dirty 30) Young (67) and Niklas Hjalmarsson (23) ... And hey, whatever became of Murray Bannerman?
CLEARER PICTURE NEEDED ON INSTANT REPLAY
In the wake of the imperfect call that spoiled the perfect game, there have been all kinds of calls for instant replay to be advanced in Major League Baseball, just as it is in the other three major sports.
The call for some kind of change is correct.
The difficulty, though, comes from the semantics.
Baseball currently does not have across-the-board standards for its broadcasts of games.
Some are in HD. Some aren’t.
In some places there are significantly more cameras than in others. Before baseball can advance towards making the correct call, it needs more standardization of its broadcasts so the replays will be the same — ballpark to ballpark.
If you want to get the calls right, you have to have the right technology.
BELONGS ON THE BEST LIST
On any list of the greatest ballplayers of our lives, you have to find a significant place for the now retired Ken Griffey Jr.
He did a little bit of everything, without his shoulders, neck and biceps bulging out artificially.
He hit more than 50 home runs twice.
Hank Aaron never hit 50 home runs in a season.
He hit more than 40 five other times.
Aaron did it seven times.
Had Griffey’s body not broken down in the second half of his career — he would have surpassed Aaron on the home-run list.
The fact he was pushed into retirement by the Seattle Mariners should not in any way diminish a breathtaking career.
WHO TURNED OFF THE MIKE?
A number of years ago, Maple Leaf players were upset when a local reporter went on radio and began criticizing them.
It wasn’t the criticism that bothered the players.
It was who said it.
The same thoughts can probably be applied to this messy story involving Mike Wilner, The Fan 590, censorship and the Blue Jays.
Wilner is career homer who has only stepped out recently and expanded his thoughts.
For that, he should be appreciated and applauded.
But like the Maple Leafs players of a few years back, clearly neither the Jays nor his employer feel that way.
They want Wilner to play the part of homer, even if they have to embarrass him, and already have, into playing that part.