Chicken Soup for the Skates

“As much as he was the guy who drew the short straw last year, he ended up making chicken salad out of it.” -LA Kings Coach Marc Crawford on Goaltender Jason LaBarbera


You've lost it. This officially makes no sense.


I know...that's why it's here. It's part of my continuing effort to re-educate the world about the wonderful sport of hockey.

So last year, the LA Kings had a bit of a logjam at goaltender. They had signed Dan Cloutier to an inflated 2-year contract, so he was on the team. The battle for backup boiled down to "Potential Boy" Jason LaBarbera and incumbent starter Mathieu Garon. In training camp, Garon won the job, so LaBarbera was sent down to the minor league team in Manchester. What followed was a tragedy of made-for-tv-movie proportions. Cloutier injured himself early in the year and barely played at all, certainly earnig his $3+ million. Garon was adequate at his best, and more often played scared and thus badly. He also spent considerable time injured. LaBarbera, on the other hand was had a career year down in the AHL, setting the league on fire, becoming its winningest goalie, and earning the starting job for the AHL All-Star team.

Due to the NHL's contract with the players union, LaBarbera (since he started training camp with the NHL team and had an NHL contract) could not be simply called up from Manchester. He would have to be exposed to what is called "Re-Entry Waivers." This means that any team in the NHL would have 48 hours to claim him as their own player, and for only half the price. LA would have to still pay the remaining 50% of his contract salary. Since there is no way a goalie playing as well as he was would clear waivers without being claimed, the Kings were forced to leave Jason wallowing in the minor leagues for the entire season. They resorted to plans B, C, and D before the end of the year, playing household name Barry Brust, Yutaka Fukufuji (the NHL's first Japanese goalie), and finally signed Sean Burke out of retirement. The result was an absolute mess, and the Kings finished the season in the 3rd to last position in the NHL. But at least, it seems Jason LaBarbera got a tasty chicken salad snack out of it.