The fake hockey punditry is having a field day prognosticating which goalie the Maple Leafs are in hot pursuit of. Their game is pretty straight-forward, just throw out the name of every goalie in the league and when Toronto gets around to making their move, they can say “I had that deal first.”
Once the Roberto Luongo speculation ran out of gas, the rumors of Toronto having interest in Jonathan Bernier began popping up, but they were squelched promptly by Leafs GM Brian Burke, stating that he had not even discussed the possibility of acquiring the young backup with King GM Dean Lombardi.
Names such as Jaroslav Halak and Miikka Kiprusoff have recently been mentioned in the Twitterverse as being a potential object of Toronto’s desire, but honestly there is a better chance of newly appointed Chick-Fil-A spokesman Tim Thomas being between the pipes in Blue and White come October.
After a disappointing first year with St. Louis after being traded from the Habs in 2010, Halak bounced back last season and partnered with former Senator goalie Brian Elliott to win the Jennings Trophy for lowest goals against. Under the defensive minded Ken Hitchcock, the 27 year old Czech went 26-12-7, with a microscopic 1.97 GAA and .926 save percentage.
Elliott played eight less regular season games than Halak, with more impressive stats and he led the Blues to their first playoff series victory in a decade, which could fuel speculation that Halak, signed for two more seasons at $3.75 Million might be available.
Hitchcock chose Halak as his playoff starter, but was forced to go with Elliott after his injury in Game Two of the first round series against San Jose. While Elliott played well in the first round, he played subpar in the Conference Semi-Final against Los Angeles.
Elliott had a remarkable renaissance last season after struggling with Ottawa and Colorado in 2010-11 and was re-signed to a rather inexpensive two year, $3.6 Million deal during the year. That signing enabled GM Doug Armstrong to move prospect netminder Ben Bishop to Ottawa at the trade deadline.
Had the Blues held on to Bishop, there would be more to the possibility of Halak or Elliott being moved, but now it simply makes no sense.
The 35 year old Kiprusoff would be a perfect fit for the Leafs. He is still at the top of his game, winning 35 games, with a 2.35 GAA and .921 save % last season and he has two more years at nearly $6 Millon per year, but Calgary is not rebuilding and getting younger under GM Jay Feaster and new coach Bob Hartley, they are doubling down in an attempt to make the playoffs with him and Jarome Iginla as their core players. Feaster has added veteran Mike Cammalleri before the trade deadline and signed free agents Jiri Hudler and Dennis Wideman in the off-season.
With Henrik Karlsson and Leland Irving as the other goalies on the depth chart, trading Kiprusoff would be tantamount to an admission by Feaster that the team is in the process of a full rebuild. If Calgary is outside the top eight come trade deadline time, he could be moved, but there is no way that “Kipper” will be traded now.
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