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Major goalies staying put with less than an hour left

Going into the trade deadline, it seemed like someone would eventually trade for a notable goalie. (Sorry Vesa Toskala, Curtis McElhinney and Justin Pogge) At least that’s what one would assume when taking a cursory look at rosters.

If you have any interest in following hockey banter, you’ve probably read the many (fair or unfair) critiques that the Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks will collapse under the weight of shabby goaltending. On the other end of the spectrum, wobbly teams with big-money goalies might benefit from moving their franchise guys (for instance: Marty Turco in Dallas and Tomas Vokoun in Florida).

You’d at least have to wonder why the goalie-cursed Philadelphia Flyers don’t at least get some insurance for Michael Leighton after Ray Emery’s season ending injury, right? (Seriously, though, the Flyers are to goalies what the Chicago Bears are to quarterbacks. Philadelphia: where goalies go to die.)

Then again, teams were pretty stingy with goalies last summer too. I know he had some injury concerns but it was still stunning that Manny Fernandez failed to even secure a backup role this season. It’s simply not a seller’s market for goalies right now, considering the fact that most of the bigger names also bring big cap numbers with them (for example Turco’s annual cap hit is $5.7 million). There are basically only 60 spots for goalies and only 30 starting jobs, after all.

Does it explain why solid, reasonably cheap veteran goalies such as Dwayne Roloson or Martin Biron are (currently) staying put? Well ... no. I’m with you on that one, pundits.