Who's the next goalie in Flyerland?

by  Brandt Corbin

            Hasta la vista baby, you are going going gone. Whom Am I talking about? Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher, and its a no brainer why he’s not returning. He’s started eight playoff games this year, he’s been pulled four times, nothing more needs to be said, that has to be an unofficial NHL record. The veteran all year has played good hockey but not great, and the inconsitency almost cost them in the first round and is costing them in the second round.

When will they ever learn?

            When can they are will they ever realize they need an actual a number one goalie, a puck stopper that is an undisputed number one guy. We’re talking 15 years since Ron Hextall’s time with the Flyers. Ever since then the team has had a ongoing carousel of goalies. We could be talking about 20 goalies over the past 20 some years, none of which leading them to the promise land of being of course the Stanley Cup. Aside from Hextall, Michael Leighton and Boucher none of the other netminders have lead them to the Stanley Cup finals.

Russian rookie Sergei Bobrovsky is not going anywhere, he will be back next year, mainly because he is the best goaltender prospect in years. But is likely 3-4 years away from reaching his full potential.

Lack of cap space will be an issue

            Going into next year the Flyers have just over 2 million in cap space available. That does not inlcude Leighton & de-man Matt Walker who are both under contract next year for over 1.5 million each. On top of that, top six forward Ville Leina is an unrestricted free agent. What does this mean for their goaltending next year, who knows. Veteran netminders Ilya Bryzagalov, Tomas Vokoun are both UFA’s but will be out of the Flyers price range. Then you have Jose Thedore, Evengi Nabakov, Dwayne Roloson and Johan Hedberg that are veterans who could be signed for less than 2.5 million and 1 or 2 year contracts. If they decide to go cheap, they could sign Marty Turco, Ty Conklin or Mike Smith. But either way they’d have to make a major move to get a decent netminder in.

Who’s the best bet to be Flyers goalie next year?

                If I were a betting man, which I am, I would say Nabakov. The only way this can happen is if they acquire him from the New York Islanders. Reason why I’d say Nabakov is like Bobrovksy he’s Russian, and very inexpensive well under 1 million dollars. But likely like every other year it will lead to more failure.