If the rumors floating around are true, LeClaire is not just a fragile goalie, he is a ridiculously fragile goalie. The story is that during practice yesterday morning in New York, Mike Fisher fired a rocket into LeClaire's mask, with the result that LeClaire now has a concussion (or as it will be explained on the press releases, an "upper body injury"). This could keep him out indefinitely. Isn't having a fragile goalie fun!(Maybe Mike Fisher just doesn't like LeClaire, as the shot which broke LeClaire's cheek in November came off his stick, too. I jest...)
So with Brian Elliot battling the flu instead of the puck for a change, the team made an emergency callup of Mike "No Relation" Brodeur. And lo, did the savior do his good work: Ottawa bounced the Rangers 2-0 in their own rink.
So from two career starts, Brodeur has two wins, one shut-out, a 0.5 goals-against average, and a 0.982 save-percentage.
Clearly Ottawa has found our new franchise goalie.
</sarcasm>
Both times Brodeur has been called up, the team has been struggling with a sudden injury. Most of the time such a shock will prompt a team into playing over their heads for a game or two, and I think that these examples fit this general scenario quite well.
If LeClaire is out for a while, clearly Brodeur will have to stay while Elliot acts as the primary goaltender. But my feelings about Brodeur are the same I had last year about Elliot: bringing him along too quickly will not be in his best interest.
If only Ottawa fans could tolerate some adversity without jumping up and down for immediate fixes.
Update: The word now is that yes, it is a concussion, but it is probably a concussion that was originally inflicted in the earlier injury and was just aggravated yesterday. So LeClaire is not fragile -- just hurt. And probably really hurt, which means he will be gone for a long period again.
