He may be all of 29 years old, but there are a lot of miles hidden behind the sad eyes of goaltender Michael Leighton. Often staring off into nowhere, or up at the rafters, it seems like Leighton is always far away, looking beyond what’s in front of him. Maybe he’s trying not to get too attached to anything because he knows that by tomorrow, it could all be gone.
A true journeyman, he made his NHL debut with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2002-2003, posting a shutout in a 0-0 tie against the Phoenix Coyotes. And that’s about the only thing that went right for Michael Leighton in his NHL career. He spent the next six years bouncing around from team to team, between the NHL and AHL. He lived out of a suitcase, rarely settling down in one place because he never knew how long he was staying. When he captured the Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award as the best goaltender in the AHL in 2007-2008, the Carolina Hurricanes brought him up to be Cam Ward’s backup. But after a season as the second string goalie, he found himself back on the waiver wire in December 2009.
But let’s step back a moment.
I first heard the name Michael Leighton in January of 2007. The Flyers were in the midst of a horrific season where nothing went right and they were well on their way to the worst finish in franchise history. (So bad in fact, that when the time came for the draft lottery, they couldn’t even win that. Little did we know then how much that would haunt us.) The Flyers claimed Leighton off waivers from the Nashville Predators and sent him to the AHL Phantoms. Of course, as is the story with most Flyers goalies, Robert Esche went down with an injury and Leighton got the call up. After four games – a 2-2 split and a less than stellar GAA, Leighton once again found himself on waivers (and claimed by the Montreal Canadiens) when the Flyers acquired Martin Biron. I figured that was the last time I would ever hear the name Michael Leighton.
I was wrong.
Fast forward to December 15, 2009. Flyers starter Ray Emery had gone down with an injury – surprise, surprise. Paul Holmgren claimed Leighton off waivers (again) from the Carolina Hurricanes as most Philadelphia fans asked “why?” Clearly, they thought, it was just to back up Brian Boucher rather than taking playing time away from Johan Backlund, the Phantoms goalie. But no one really cared, he was just taking up space on the bench, right? Wrong. Boucher went down with an injury and fans said “welcome to the show Michael Leighton, please don’t suck too much.” Then again, when they’d recently expelled the coach and fallen to 29th in the league, how bad could he really be?
And you know what? Not only did he not suck – he went 8-1-1 in his first 10 starts. Suddenly, the goaltender who sported a mask covered in white medical tape with a Flyers sticker got a shiny new mask, complete with the Philadelphia skyline, a snowy Flyers logo and the names of his two young daughters. Why, you might ask? Because he would’ve looked a little silly wearing that old mask on national television as the starting goaltender in the Winter Classic at Fenway Park as the Flyers took on the Bruins.
When Emery returned, Leighton had us wondering who would get waived – he or Boucher? Leighton merely shrugged and said, “It is what it is.” Thankfully, the Flyers took no chances and held on to both Leighton and Boucher – and Leighton was back in net when Emery went down yet again, this time for the rest of the season. As Leighton went on to go 8-4-1 in his next 13 starts, we thought maybe, just maybe the Flyers could make a run in the playoffs. Then down went Leighton with a high ankle sprain – his dream of a secure starting role seemingly over along with the team’s playoff chances.
But as we soon learned, you should never count this Flyers team out. With the help of Boucher, the Flyers snuck into the playoffs as the 7th seed on the last day of the season – winning, of all things, a shootout against the New York Rangers. They disposed of the Devils in five games, but quickly fell behind the Bruins 0-3. When Simon Gagne scored a huge OT goal in game four, the series returned to Boston for game five and Leighton returned to the bench. With no expectation of getting his role back from Boucher, Leighton was just happy to be part of the playoffs and support his teammates.
And then Ryan Parent made what might be his only significant contribution to the playoffs: he fell on Boucher, spraining both of Boucher’s knees as the goaltender let out a horrific cry of pain and threw his blocker (perhaps paying homage to teammate Scott Hartnell?). And just like that, a very cold Leighton was thrust into a 1-0 game, season on the line (no pressure or anything), stopping all 14 shots he faced to help the Flyers win game five. And after they won game six and mounted an amazing comeback in game seven, it was Leighton who leapt into the arms of Kimmo Timonen and Mike Richards to celebrate as the Flyers made history.
The Flyers knocked off the other Cinderella story of the East – the Montreal Canadiens – in five games, while Leighton added three shutouts to his storybook season. He even earned himself an NHL History Will Be Made Commercial – “What if Leighton didn’t seize the moment?” And it was on to the Stanley Cup finals.
But first he was forced to endure a five day wait. Five days of media stories as Leighton’s personal life took center stage. And though the stories had been floating around since his arrival in December 2009, this was the first time I really took the time to read about our waiver saver.
Married to his high school sweetheart. Father of two daughters – Ella (4) and Annalise (six months). Ella is such a fan of her father’s teammate Chris Pronger that she hangs a poster of Pronger in her hotel room when she is there to help ward off the boogeyman. And she wishes her father would just stop playing hockey and come home because she misses him, because he’s not there that often – they have a house, they have money – she just wants her Daddy.
Leighton didn’t move his family to Philadelphia when he arrived – and he only moved them into his hotel room when he was injured and wasn’t traveling with the team. Leighton, even after being told to find a place to live, opted for hotel life rather than settling in a place he wasn’t sure he was staying for long. He knew better.
And while I appreciated the great run he’d put up, and was so glad he helped save our season, those five days were the first time I really cared about Michael Leighton. After all, fans in Philadelphia are programmed to endure the goalie carousel – never get too attached because they’re probably not staying. Could Leighton have played his way into a contract, into security, into a chance to have his family with him in one place for an entire year?
But it wasn’t meant to be. While Leighton held steady at home in games three and four, he was mediocre on the road and yanked twice. The Flyers dream run came to an unhappily ever after end on June 9th during game 6, as horrified fans watched the puck trickle under the stick and through the legs of Leighton barely four minutes into overtime. And while at times the team as a whole had a breakdown, you can’t help but wonder if Michael Leighton could have been the glue that held them together, rescued them from their own faults - held us together just long enough to fight back in even one of those games. Maybe then he would have gotten his own happy ending.
Instead, the Flyers will probably move on without him.
But how will he be remembered? As the man who helped save our season from ruin? The man who stepped in cold into game five of that Bruins series and helped us make history? Maybe the loving father and husband who spent weeks upon end away from his family, living out of a suitcase in a hotel, just to play the game he loves and live his dream? One would think that in Philadelphia, he’ll be remembered as a scapegoat who just wasn’t good enough to give us a Stanley Cup -- not even a thank you, just a goodbye and expression of disappointment. But less than 24 hours after that fateful goal, Leighton was embraced by fans, receiving a large ovation as the Phillies took on the Marlins. So maybe he’ll be remembered as the man who for a short while, rose above his journeyman status on an improbable run that came up short.
But to me, he’ll always be Michael Leighton, the man who for just a brief time, tugged a little bit on my heart strings, while trying desperately to share his dream of winning a Stanley Cup with the city of Philadelphia, no matter how many times the world knocked him down along the way.
UPDATE:
Well, it looks like Michael Leighton will get a somewhat happy ending. The Flyers re-signed him to a two-year deal, worth $3.1M. The journeyman will have the chance to compete for the starting role and maybe, just maybe, leave a better lasting memory in the hearts of the fans of Philadelphia.
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