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Flyers’ goalie curse strikes again: Leighton out 8-10 weeks

Tim Jackman, Michael Leighton

Philadelphia Flyers’ Michael Leighton, right, blocks a shot by New York Islanders’ Tim Jackman in the first period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, March 9, 2010, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

AP

The Philadelphia Flyers are to goalies what the Chicago Bears are to quarterbacks. (Which I guess means Ron Hextall is Jim McMahon? Works for me.) TSN reports that Michael Leighton will miss 8-10 weeks with a high ankle sprain.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren made the announcement on Thursday, meaning the team’s Stanley Cup hopes now lie with Brian Boucher.

The Flyers will need to win a couple of playoff series to give Leighton a chance to return to the lineup.

That’s gotta hurt! Earlier this year, Ray Emery needed to conclude his season - and may ultimately end his career - after hip surgery. The team will now center its playoff hopes on the well-traveled Brian Boucher, who isn’t a horrible backup but certainly not the guy you’d want to pin your Stanley Cup hopes on.

I both agree and disagree with Hockeycentric’s Tweet about the injury.

Michael Leighton out 8-10 weeks... Paul Holmgren’s ineptitude on full display.

On one hand, many people - myself included - criticized Holmgren for not trading for goaltending insurance during the trade deadline. You’d think that they’d want to add a veteran such as Dwayne Roloson or former Flyer Martin Biron (or even someone outside of Long Island) just in case Michael Leighton faltered. The thing is, Leighton was actually providing Philadelphia with solid play in net. With that in mind, can you blame Holmgren for something as random as injuries? How many legitimate contenders, exactly, could deal with the injury of their No. 1 goalie right now?

Then again, this is Philadelphia, where they always seem to skimp on goalies. There are few certainties in sports, but these things seem to hold true: the Yankees will out-spend everyone, the Lakers will get lucky with trades, the Bengals will acquire malcontents, the Trailblazers will draft injury prone centers over Hall of Fame shooters and the Flyers will fail in net.

Really, it’s good to have a few sure things in an increasingly uncertain world.