When I heard the trade sending Toskala and Blake away to Anaheim for JS Giguere, I was a happy man. Sure, we were picking up some salary but we managed to shed the terrible Blake contract and get rid of one of the worst Leafs goaltenders in recent times.
(In a side note, if Blake was making $2 million or less, I would have loved to see him stay with the Leafs. He is a tireless worker and although he makes some bad decisions and too many poor shots, he was a great person.)
Anyways, when the trade occured, it was thought that Jiggy was going to be a temporary fix until his contract expired. He would be the stop-gap, giving our team decent goaltending until our saviour named Gustavsson was ready. After seeing his first two games back and thinking back just a year or two, maybe people were too quick to call this man done. I think Giguere may be more then a short term fix.
How old was Belfour when he became a Leaf and helped the team make some playoff runs? Giguere is only 32 years old. He is not some ancient dinosaur like CuJo was in his last stint here. I may be jumping the gun on this, but Giguere has been very impressive in two shutouts against two game opponents in New Jersey and Ottawa - both tough teams to play due to varying circumstances.
If Giguere can prove himself to still be capable carrying the load, then maybe at the end of his contract he gets an extension, not his walking papers. I think that, like Belfour and Curtis Joseph, Jean Sebastien Giguere could be a long term solution. If that turns out to be correct, then Gustavsson will have plenty of time to work out the kinks and become the goaltender we all think he can be.
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