The $1.3 Million Man

This afternoon the Chicago Blackhawks signed veteran goaltender Marty Turco to a 1-year contract worth $1.3 million. He joins this year's Stanley Cup champions who have already done a complete team overhaul after winning the Cup for the first time since 1961.

This signing basically ends Antti Niemi's career as a Hawk. He won $2.75 million in arbitration and Chicago decided that their Cup-wining netminder was too pricey. Niemi now becomes an unrestricted free agent and is free to sign with any team he wants.

Just to let you all know, Michael Leighton is signed for two years at a cap hit of $1.55 million per year. For anyone who doesn't quite understand what I'm getting at, I'm saying that Marty Turco makes around $250,000 less per year than Mike Leighton. If Paul Holmgren could have realized that Leighton isn't, won't, and will never be the goaltender to win the Flyers a Stanley Cup and he could have signed Marty Turco for less than Leighton.

Let me just say that I don't think Turco will be able to bring the revamped Blackhawks back to the Finals, but I certainly don't think Leighton will be able to do it with the Flyers either. Could Turco have done it with Philadelphia? I think there was a higher chance of that, yes.