Kipper announces his retirement…kinda

 

Casually announcing his retirement after a 10 year stint that saw him become perhaps the best goaltender in franchise history is so very Kiprusoff. Of course, this is translated from a Finnish news source and isn’t what you’d call official, so we can’t say for certain this is a reality yet.

Another strange twist is the apparent interest of the Columbus Blue Jackets in Kipper despite his public interest in hanging up the pads. According to Nick Kypreos, Columbus has asked the Flames if they can speak to Kiprusoff and convince him not to retire.

It’s a somewhat odd a choice for a franchise that has the latest Vezina winner in net. In addition, Kipper will cost almost $6M in cap space to retain (although his actual price dips to just $1.5M). It could be that Finnish GM Jarmo Kekalianen has an affinity for Kipper and figures he can buy low on a guy who can bounce back and be a worthwile back-up and mentor to Sergei Bobrovsky.

Still, I don’t really see Miikka deciding to stay in the game for Columbus. If he does, though, maybe the Flames can move him for one of Columbus’ late picks this year.

We’ll save our farewell posts for when Kipper officially retires or gets traded.