Leighton Waived

This caught me by surprise. The breaking news of the day is that Michael Leighton has been waived.

I thought the Flyers would roll with 3 goalies for another week or two, but not so fast.

Leighton got the win in his first game back, though he was not good. Of course letting in a no-angle shot 2.5 minutes in didn't ease Flyers fans' memories of the Stanley Cup winning goal.

It is tempting to see this and have an initial reaction that the Flyers are dumping him and going with Boucher and Bobrovsky. After taking a deep breath, the following is more likely;

1) Leighton will be unclaimed and try to find his stride in the AHL as part of the Flyers organization.

2) The Flyers are going to ride Boucher (aka Mr. Streaky) as long as he's playing well. Personally I don't think that's going to be much longer, but you never know.

3) The Flyers don't want to send Bobrovsky down.

The Flyers overall goalie situation is not much clearer now. Don't be surprised to see Leighton called back up if Boucher and Bobrovsky struggle and Leighton plays well down on the farm. This definitely isn't good news for Mr. Leighton, but I don't think his days with the Flyers are over just yet.

As another aside, let me also say that I don't see Boucher or Leighton having any trade value at any point this season. If the Flyers don't want three goalies, it means someone is going to the minors and nothing is coming back to the Flyers.

Other searing insights:

-JVR is getting scoring chances more consistently, and is scoring some garbage goals. I didn't necessarily see him as that type of player giving his skating and stickhandling, but maybe that's where his NHL future lies? His career could still go either way, but I couldn't help but notice he was on the ice in the final minute as the Flyers clung to their one goal lead against the Wings. That may be a better sign than the goals (and all the posts he's been hitting).

-The lines are back to status quo. I wouldn't have minded seeing them mixed up a little longer, but the Hartnell-Briere-Leino line is maximizing the output of each of those three. Not sure what is best for Richards, Giroux and Carter though.

-Meszaros trade sure is looking good right now. I've said it before, but Carle's days as a Flyer may be numbered (beyond this season that is).