It’s great to see Brian Boucher back in the Flyers’ fold, even if it’s with their AHL franchise the Phantoms. He has plenty of NHL experience despite his career being tumultuous (which is really standard for most goalies except Brodeur). I still believe trading him away to the Coyotes to make the mentally unstable Cechmanek happy was a foolish decision. Getting Handzus and Esche worked out but it doesn’t matter anymore because the former was traded and the latter released to free agency. Two additional dumb moves that will brand the finger of blame on GM Clarke’s legacy. I believe Boucher is still a good goalie. His five consectuvie-shutouts record was not pure luck since he has been playing for teams with really weak defenses: Phoenix, Chicago and Columbus. Calgary meant nothing too, Kiprusoff has been their number-one goalie for a while, Phoenix dumped him there to save on the salary cap.
I checked out the roster for the Phantoms so I don’t know who will be demoted to the ECHL franchise to make room for him. I feel a tad more confidence with the Flyers’ goal-tending knowing Boucher can be brought up to cover an injured Biron or choking Niitymaki.
In other news, the dirt on Bettmann’s meddling with the Predators is starting to make the rounds. Oddly the Preds got new uniforms, still ugly and lame. The Sharks did too. They kept the Nineties gang colors but went with a less iconic shark, it’s more three-dimensional looking. I like it. I would’ve liked them better with Chris Drury playing center.