Not surprised by the conditioning stint. I wonder what happens after the stint is up? Boosh has actually played well, and nothing more needs be said about Bob. My guess is we all say goodbye to Boosh, at least for the time being and Leighton comes in and rides the pine until Bob slows down, which hopefully doesn't happen because he sure is fun to watch.
ADK is not exactly the place I'd want to send any goalie for a conditioning stint. That said if he puts up good numbers there, then I'd say he's ready to come back to the NHL.
i think i prefer the healthy goalie who just put up 1 gaa and .960, then the one who is coming off back surgery and hasn't played on any level yet.
I think they carry 3 goalies up until a few days before the deadline. Then if they need some salary room they dump someone. All the salaries combined isn’t that much for your goalies really. They cant dump boucher yet without seeing Leighton play for a while and see if the back is healthy. With backlund hurt they are in no position to move any of them at this time. Lappy no doubt goes on ltir.
Flyers goalie Michael Leighton will remain on long-term injury reserve, general manager Paul Homgren said Monday.
He made the announcement during a conference call, adding that he expects to carry three goalies for “the short term,” when Leighton is healthy enough to be activated.
At the time of the call, Holmgren also said the team was seeking approval from the NHL for a two-game conditioning extension for the 29-year-old goaltender, which was received later Monday.
“He still needs more work,” Holmgren said of Leighton, who had a two-game assignment with the Phantoms over the weekend in which he had a 3.55 goals against average and .875 save percentage in 118 minutes of play.
Leighton is apparently still feeling the effects of his surgery from Oct. 11, in which he had a herniated disk repaired. The disk was affecting a nerve in his left foot, which continues to give him numbness and pain in net.
“It’s still the same issue I had a little while ago,” Leighton said. “It’s still not 100-percent. My back feels pretty good. But it’s not just the numbness, it’s strength. The doctor said the nerve needs to regenerate itself. They aren’t sure when that will happen.
“In certain movements, it doesn’t feel right. It does not feel as comfortable as the other foot. I think the best thing for me now is to play games.”
The Phantoms play Friday night in Syracuse, N.Y., Saturday in Glens Falls, N.Y., against Portland and Sunday in Hartford, Conn., against the Connecticut Whale.
Leighton also received some much needed practice time with the Phantoms, where he could have an entire net to himself instead of sharing one with Sergei Bobrovsky and Brian Boucher.
Leighton’s possible return to the Phantoms delays the Flyers’ inevitable roster decisions at least another week. Even then, the Flyers could just choose to keep Leighton – if he is not fully healthy – on the long-term injured list for the balance of the season, though that seems unlikely.
“I’m not sure we’d have to do anything,” Holmgren said. “To add him to the roster, we would have to make some sort of roster move to take him off [LTIR] and add him to our team. But I’d be leary about adding him and not having some other sort of insurance policy with another [backup] goalie.”
That’s why Holmgren said if Leighton is healthy, he wouldn’t be opposed to “keeping three goaltenders for the foreseeable future.”
“I obviously want to play,” Leighton said. “But I don’t want to come back and not be 100 percent, that doesn’t help the team.”
Last edited by MiamiScreamingEagles: 12-06-2010 at 07:11 PM.
