The Flyers and goaltending

The buzz is that the Flyers are looking for a number-one goaltender, and on Firday night's Flyers-Montréal game on TSN Pierre Mcguire directly told them to go get a goalie now.

I disagree. The Flyers' problem isn't their goaltending, it's their defensive play. Of the three goals Niittymäki allowed in regulation against the Habs, one was a fluke and the other two were results of horrendous defensive play by the Flyers skaters. Getting a new goalie is not going to make your team play better defense, and defensive play has been a constant problem for the Flyers ever since the lockout.

The most ludicrous idea that was floated by the TSN panel was getting Niklas Bäckström to Philadelphia. Bäckström is a positional goalie who's been phenomenal behind Minnesota's trapping defense, and consistently garbage every time he's played behind a weak defensive corps. Most spectacularly so for the Finnish national team.

What the Flyers need badly is a defensive leader. Heck, maybe they should try to land Pronger. Changing goaltenders isn't going to help. Martin Biron has already proved he can play at the NHL level, and if you think Niittymäki can't hack it against the best players in the world, maybe you should remind yourself who was the MVP of the Torino olympics. Goaltending is not the problem, defense is.