A Goalie Story

Besides talking about Chris Pronger, one of the most talked about stories of the Stanley Cup Finals this year has been the goaltending, whether it has been good or bad. We had the stellar performance of Jaroslav Halak in previous rounds, to the emergence of Antti Niemi and the waiver pickup Michael Leighton. Cheap goalies had got people talking to the point where we were questioning if a team even needs a stellar goalie to win the Stanley Cup. Or how much a team should even spend on its goaltending?

Of course the stellar performances from Halak and Niemi, who are both RFA's this summer, will increase their value greatly going into the off season. We'll see one answer to how much a team will spend on its goaltending when we see what the dollar value of the contracts that the Blackhawks and the Canadiens will re-sign their star goalies to or if they will trade them away and opt for a cheaper option.

Rest of my thoughts and today's links after the jump

Michael Leighton on the other hand is not in the same situation as Niemi or Halak. Leighton has played well, but I haven't seen him steal games the way the other two goalies did. He is not the caliber of goalie (or he has not shown it as of yet) to win games when his team plays poorly. His team's success are dictated by how well the team in front of him plays as long as he plays decently. Nolan suggested that he could be a possible back up goalie for the Lightning next season, and really the answer if he will depend on who is our starting goalie first. His asking price has been upped based on his performance during the playoffs may also be higher than what the Lightning are willing to spend on a backup.

Oh, and here's some links of stuff I found interesting to read:

• 40 goals in 5 games, the second highest total in 30 years and debate whether Leighton or Brian Boucher will start has Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail thinking the goaltending has been underwhelming
• Via ProHockeyTalk, Chris Neil owes creditors over $2 million
• Down Goes Brown has signs your favorite player may be bankrupt
• From NHL.com, the Finns are sacrificing some serious sleep to catch the Cup Finals
• Globe and Mail reports that Glendale city council has approved of a memorandum of understanding with Ice Edge. Do they really have a choice though?
• mc79hockey has a countdown to Schadenfreude asks if Ice Edge really has the money for the Coyotes and what happens if they don't?
• View From My Seats is going through a little NHL Spring Cleaning clearing out all the garbage in his life, like Frolove jerseys, books by Stephane Auger and Bouwmeester jerseys