Ottawa Senators Hopeful About Leclaire
September 29, 2009 by Jeanne Dupuis
Filed under Goalies, NHL, News, Ottawa Senators
Goaltender Pascal Leclaire was acquired at the trade deadline last season but, after having ankle surgery, he wasn’t able to play. He has dressed in this year’s pre-season games and the Ottawa Senators are hoping that this is the answer to their netminder woes.
image: TSN
They had it good with Ray Emery until he went bat-shit crazy. Of course, Leclaire is taking the high road when it comes to the gossip about his predecessors. “I wasn’t here and I don’t really care about what happened before,” stated Leclaire. “They’ve had some real quality goalies here. Sometimes it’s easy to blame goalie. You get used to it. Since you were 10 years old, you give up a bad goal you’re a bad guy.”
Already, general manager Bryan Murray is voicing his optimism: “I’m very happy with Pascal. He is coming off a time where he had some injury problems and health problems. He’s worked very hard this summer and has looked very good in the games this preseason.”
It’s been almost a year since he really played so Leclaire was also pretty happy to be on the ice and it’s easy to see why. He has been impressive in the pre-season and already his attitude is making me hopeful. “When the goalie is calm it has a positive effect on his teammates,” Leclaire said. That’s a change from some of the other netminders the Senators have had recently.
I guess we’ll find out when the season gets underway.
