So Long, Eddie

Any day now, media outlets will report that the Toronto Maple Leafs have bought out the remainder of goaltender Eddie Belfour’s contract. With the buyout clause amounting to $1.52 million, it has been revealed that the Leafs can apply this groin-kickingly large sum to the salary cap over a two-year span. That’s just about the only positive detail a person can read in the incredible contract Belfour extorted from rookie GM John Ferguson Jr. over a barrel two years ago.

That’ll buy Eddie a truckload or two of wobbly pops. Either that, or an interest payment on the billion dollars he owes the Dallas police.

The buyout cornholing, combined with the original contract amount and Belfour’s performance this season tempts me to say good riddance to The Eagle, who on camera always looked to me as though he had just emerged from a ditch after a week-long bender.

But the fact is, this past season aside, Belfour is the greatest goalie I ever saw suit up in a Toronto uniform. That’s saying a lot, because in my time as a fan I’ve seen goalies like Fuhr play for the Leafs, and all-stars Potvin and Joseph carry the club through memorable playoff runs. All triumphant in their own way, but none of those guys carried the mystique that Belfour did.

I was lucky enough to see Belfour play in person twice. For a guy with a reputation for being an unreliable malcontent, I walked away flabbergasted by his unflappable command between the pipes. Perfect positioning, ice-cold demeanour, smothering rebound control, and tape-to-tape passes to his rushing defensemen - some things, you just know when you see them with your own eyes. Belfour was a franchise goalie extraordinaire, at the peak of his powers.

One of the games I witnessed was an action-packed playoff matchup against the Ottawa Senators that ended in a shutout for the Eagle - one of three he notched in an eye-popping 2004 playoff series. Forget Lalime’s seventh-game meltdown; the reason the Leafs won that series was because of Belfour’s sensational play. I’ll ignore for now that in the following series against Philadelphia, he became the Invisible Man. But in his defense, the Leafs were hurting, and let down as much by key misplays - I’m looking at you, McCabe - as anything Belfour did that series.

This summer, there are no Hall of Fame-bound goaltenders available for John Ferguson to back a dump truck of money up to. And despite millions in salary-cap space to spend on other positions, 2006-2007 could prove to be yet another lean year in four long decades of lean years.

Leaf fans can only pray that one day, another .90-calibre Pezzonavante like Eddie Belfour will swagger into the Air Canada Centre and carry their beloved hockey team to Stanley Cup glory.

Party on, Ed.