Curtis Mcelhinney ends unlikeliest of careers

[yave1964]

The man known as Mcbackup ended his career today announcing his retirement riding off into the sunset after winning back to back cups with the Bolts.

 

  McElhinney was drafted back in 2003 in the 6th round by the Flames, after not being impressive enough to latch on with a major junior team in Canada he went to Colorado College for four years putting up good but not great numbers. 

 

  From there he was a plug and play AHL goalie until injuries forced the Flames to give him a look, he appeared in parts of three seasons in the NHL for the Flames before being dealt to the Ducks for Vesa Toskala in a trade of backup goaltenders. He bounced between Ottawa and Phoenix, at 30 he was shipped to the minors by the Coyotes spending two consecutive years in the AHL and it appeared his NHL career was over.

 

  Then the Jackets came calling, Mason and then Bob needed a veteran backup goalie, he would spend the next three plus years with the best seat in the house watching the starter from the runway more often than not. Dealt away to Toronto where he spent a year and a half of pretty fine backup tending, he was waived  and claimed by  Carolina where he had his best year in 2018-19 going 20-11-2 then signed with the Bolts as Vasilevskiy's caddy for back to back Stanley Cup Championships to round out his career. 

 

  Traded for Toskala, traded for the hull of Dan Ellis, waived and claimed four times by other teams throughout his career, he had a 13 year career with 249 games, anaverage of 18.8 games per year, not good enough to get a chance with a major Junior program in Canada, not good enough to get a chance with a major USA college, somehow he kept chugging away even going to the AHL for two years in his early thirties which is almost always the kiss of death for a player of his alleged skills.  He got the absolute most out of every bit of skill he possessed.  Riding off into the sunset with not one but two rings to finish off his career is the cherry on top.

[Fixxer]

There were times when, during his stint with the Flames, playing behind Miikka Kiprusoff, Curtis was highly touted and said to be a starter if he played for another team (Kinda like the hype Jonathan Bernier got when playing behind Quick), at around the same time.