Leighton's Legacy

Jacob Owens
LosingWithStyle NHL/MLS Contributor

This past Monday, the Flyers waived goaltender Michael Leighton, essentially
placing his talents up for grabs. Luckily for the team he remained unclaimed and will
return to the Adirondack Phantoms farm team due to a weak market for goalies. The
move should help strengthen his timing in net coming back from an October back
surgery, but his return to the Flyers appears unlikely.
For those that have lost track in this exciting season of highs, though, we should
pause to remember what Leighton meant to the team just 8 months ago.
The Flyers needed a 2-1 OT shootout win over the rival New York Rangers on the
last game of 2009-10 season to sneak into the playoffs.
Only 5 months before that, the Flyers claimed Leighton off waivers themselves from
the Carolina Hurricanes. In his 8th NHL season last year, Leighton had been a budget
choice move, largely to protect the team in case of injury to Brian Boucher and the failed
Ray Emery experiment.
He had only started 29 games in 3 seasons with the Hurricanes and held a decent 2.83
GAA in those starts.
When Boucher went down in Game 5 of the Conference Semifinals versus the
Boston Bruins with MCL sprains in both knees, however, it pushed Leighton into his first
NHL playoff game ever. It was also the first time that he had been in net in 24 games,
stretching back nearly 2 months.
He held his own in Game 5, though, stopping all 14 shots in 35+ minutes and thus
became half of the first goaltender platoon to share a playoff shutout since 1955.
He went on to back the dominant Flyers defensive line in the miraculous Game 7
comeback win, in which they won 4-3 despite being down 3-0 in a incredibly hostile
TD Garden in Boston. In doing so, they became only the third team in NHL history to
comeback from down 3 games in a playoff series.
They’re improbable win over the Bruins meant they also held home ice advantage
over the streaking Montreal Canadians, who took down Cup favorites Washington
and Pittsburgh in the first two rounds in 7 games a piece. Leighton would shutout the
Canadians 3 times in the Conference series, twice in Montreal. He is the only Flyers
goaltender to have done that and was the star of the series that delivered the Flyboys to
their first Cup try since 1997.
While the Orange-and-Black came up just short in a Game 6 OT loss to the Stanley
Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, the fans at the Wachovia Center cheered on their
Flyers liked they had won (After a long awkward pause to determine if Patrick Kane
had indeed scored and the puck hadn’t disappeared into thin air). Leighton produced the
Flyers only two Stanley Cup wins last year (both at home), but was also responsible for
their 4 losses giving up 14 goals.
Leighton held onto a 2.75 GAA in the Stanley Cup series and a 2.46 average in his
first playoffs. He managed a respectable .916% save percentage in 14 games, stopping
340 of 371 shots, and producing an 8-4 record with 3 shutouts.
At times he looked soft and other times slow (a.k.a. 5-1 Game 3 Eastern Conference
finals home loss and Stanley Cup Game 1 and 5 road losses), but more often then not, he
would cut the crease or flash the glove in ways you couldn’t believe he was capable of. In
the end, no one can deny how big of a part Leighton played in the dramatic “Cinderella”
run of the 2009-10 Flyers.
It was something this Flyers fan will never be able to forget, perhaps even better
than watching my beloved Phillies win the 2008 World Series. The ups-and-downs
and “gasping-for-breath” goals and saves of the NHL playoffs have never been as
invigorating as last year.
That was 7 months ago now, though, and Leighton is probably at home or on an AHL
bus waiting to see if he’ll get to wear the Orange-and-Black again this season.
Many may be angry with Leighton for not disclosing his injury earlier than he did, but
for now though, it’s probably best to say “Thanks” at least one more time.
With Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky playing well enough for the Flyers to be at the
top of the Eastern Conference, limitations for roster moves, and the problem of re-entry
waivers, Leighton won’t likely play with the varsity squad again this year.
But with Boucher becoming an unrestricted free agent next year and Leighton still on
tap for another year on his contract, we may once again get to see “Leights Out” Leighton
one more time.