Flyers' plans for Leighton still unclear

It has been 13 days since Patrick Kane's low, blocker-side snipe ended the Flyers' dream in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said yesterday that he has not spoken to the agent of Michael Leighton, the man who let in the goal that silenced the Wachovia Center and the Flyers' season.

Leighton, 29, is due to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

By not talking to Leighton's agent, former NHL goalie Mike Liut, Holmgren does not appear overly eager to sign Leighton to a long-term contract. And with the NHL draft kicking off Friday night in Los Angeles, Leighton could become a name of the past if the Flyers are able to swing a deal for one of the league's younger goalies like the Kings' Jonathan Bernier.

Still, Holmgren said yesterday in a conference call with reporters that he is not basing his plans on the strange goal that decided the Flyers' fate.

"As I said at the end of our season, it's unfair to look at Michael in the light of just that last goal," Holmgren said. "I think he did a lot of good things for our team, so we're still looking at a lot of different things right now in terms of where we're going to go. We'll decide that in the next little while here."

Holmgren said he does plan to eventually talk to Liut and Leighton. After all is said and done this weekend, Leighton might be the Flyers' best option heading into free agency - where prices for the available goaltenders could get steep.

Brian Boucher and Johan Backlund are the Flyers' only goaltenders under contract next season with professional experience. Backlund signed a 2-year deal last week.

Holmgren said he is torn about which way the NHL's goaltending is heading. The final four goalies standing in the playoffs were Leighton, Chicago's Antti Niemi, Montreal's Jaroslav Halak and San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov. None of those players has credentials like Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo or Ryan Miller, who were all bounced early in the playoffs.

"You look at the veteran goaltenders that played in the playoffs just this past season, look at the guys that were standing at the end," Holmgren said.

For now, the Flyers aim to have the best blue line money can buy in front of whoever is next year's goaltender. If they can get Dan Hamhuis and Braydon Coburn extended, they'll have the NHL's highest-paid defense.

"I think you try to build your team and hope you have a strong team, and your goalie is just one of those guys that's part of the team," Holmgren said. "Obviously, you have to stop the shots that he's supposed to stop, but you need a strong team and I think that's what we're looking at right now . . . we'll figure out the goal-tending part here in the next little while, but we do have options."

The Flyers' 2010-11 schedule will be announced today at noon. The Flyers will open the season at Pittsburgh's new Consol Energy Center on Oct. 7 before raising their first banner at the Wachovia Center since the 2003-04 Atlantic Division title in their first home game of the year . . . The 2010 induction class of the Hockey Hall of Fame also will be announced today. Eric Lindros and John LeClair are eligible for the first time. In an October 2009 interview with the Daily News, Bob Clarke endorsed Lindros as a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Former Flyer Rick Tocchet, who had 952 points and 440 career goals, and two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach Fred Shero are also eligible.

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at

http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers.