Kipper stays in Calgary – Leafs Nation exhales

TSN is reporting this morning that Miikka Kiprusoff has decided to stay in Calgary. Kent Wilson over at Flames Nation has the longer take.

Why is this notable? Because for two days, Leafs Nation was sent into a frenzy as it appeared that they were in fact, interested in the veteran goaltender out of Calgary. It was a move that never really made any sense. Why would a team that has a relatively bare prospects cupboard sacrifice any of those pieces for a goaltender with a save percentage that’s been unprecedented since the 1980s? (Kiprusoff has a .868). Why would a team with an emerging goaltender pay anything for another goaltender to add to the mix? Why would the Leafs add a goaltender whose salary cap hit is $5.83-million next season?

Of course, there’s a number of things at work here. TSN’s Darren Dreger has admitted that the network likes to amp up the speculation so people would watch their TV show today. We’re not above that at the Nations Network either, hence the newsworthiness of this particular story, but there was a lot of discussion regardless about the benefits of the Leafs adding Kiprusoff. So much so, that Pension Plan Puppets had to publish a seven-point manifesto for why nothing Kiprusoff brings would be beneficial to Toronto. “Don’t Trade for Miikka Kiprusoff” was pretty much the number one item on our trade deadline checklist from this morning.

Exhale, Leafs Nation.