"Peerless" Jiggy

If you'll allow me to greatly stretch the following comparison of Jean Sebastien Giguere to a goalie from the 1906 Smith's Falls team that challenged for the Stanley Cup, perhaps I'll be able to teach a little hockey history.

The goalie for Smith's Falls was "Peerless" Percy LeSueur. Smith's Falls is likely the least known of the Stanley Cup finalists, but the Ottawa Silver Seven certainly took note of goaltender Lesueur. Though the Silver Seven discarded the challenge of Smith's Falls with ease, Lesueur put on a show that impressed his opponents so much that they subsequently signed him, and used him almost immediately in replacing goalie Bouse Hutton.

Lesueur, a native of Quebec City who doubled as a bank clerk, would go onto become a goaltending legend. Percy rose to stardom in the 8 years he guarded the net in the nation's capital. He joined the team in 1906-07 and enjoyed two Stanley Cup wins in 1909 and 1911.

So what does this have to do with Jean Sebastien Giguere? Well Jiggy is an unrestricted free agent come July 1st, and will undoubtedly fetch huge dollars as only Vesa Toskala and maybe Niklas Backstrom crowd the marketplace.

I don't want to knock Ray Emery, who I actually like quite a lot both as a goalie and as a personality. But for his many spectacular saves he is forced to make due to poor play by his teammates, he has let some soft goals in the finals. These softies may prevent him from joining goalies like Giguere among the league's elite goaltenders and Stanley Cup champions.

So do the Senators drop Emery, much like the Silver Seven dropped Bouse Hutton, and grab the goalie that played so impressively against them? Is Jean Sebastien Giguere the missing piece in Ottawa, much like LeSueur was 100 years ago?

I'm not completely convinced the Senators need to do something that drastic. After all Emery has been at times great in leading the Senators to their first Stanley Cup finals appearance.

There's that plus it is extremely unlikely given the salary cap, although I have seen some reports suggesting the cap could move as high as $52 million next season, allowing for $8 million more dollars to be spent, potentially. All the Sens big names are under contract except for RFA Emery. And they could clear out UFA Mike Comrie's $3 million contract by not resigning him and, if the hockey gods are smiling on them, somehow drop Martin Gerber's $3.7 million contract, freeing up the money for "Peerless" Jean Sebastien Giguere could be doable.