UFA Goalie Market

Going into July 1st and the start of free agency the Flyers have a lot of questions to answer. The biggest one, who will be the goalie next year? With a sight that they have the team to win the cup this year, expectations are high and the goaltending is a hot topic. Michael Leighton seemed like the guy until he saw a 6 game series with the Hawks where he was thrown to the wolves for 20 goals against in parts of 6 games, 2 of which he was pulled for Brian Boucher.


Here a count down of the available Unrestricted Free Agent goalies going toward July 1st. Unrestricted means they will not be affiliated with their former team and their former team will not need anything in return for the signing come July 1st.




Tier 1: goalies who are Legitimate Starters, can start 50+ games.
1. Evgeni Nabokov, 34 -A
2. Dan Ellis, 30 - B
3. Chris Mason, 34 - B
4. Marty Turco, 34 - B
5. Michael Leighton, 29 -B
6. Martin Biron, 32 - C


Tier 2: 1b goalies, Goalies who can start 20-40 games a year and be used a back-ups.
7. Vesa Toskala, 33 - C
8. Manny Legace, 37 -C
9. Alex Auld, 29 - D
10. Ray Emery, 27 - D


Tier 3: Back-Ups, play the odd games.. unless you're behind Brodeur.
11. Brent Johnson, 33 - D
12. Antero Niittymaki, 30 - D
13. Yann Danis, 28 - D
14. Patrick Lalime, 35 - F
15. Johan Hedburg, 37 - F


Tier 4: 3rd Goalies, AHL regulars injury Call-ups.
16. Andrew Raycroft, 30 - F
17. Joey Macdonald, 30 -F


Unless the Flyers are looking into RFAs, goalies who's former team's will receive reparations for the signing, Michael Leighton is the best bang for your buck. This team also need defensive help so signing a goalie to a big contract could be wasteful when you have a potential big time starter on your team already.