Leighton’s winding career path leads him to AHL Hall of Fame | TheAHL.com

Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer

Eighteen pro seasons, trips to the waiver wire, playing in the Stanley Cup Final, battling injuries, going overseas, coming back to the AHL as a veteran and mentor.

And now, the American Hockey League Hall of Fame.

Michael Leighton, who played for 11 different NHL organizations in 13 separate AHL cities, piled up plenty of awards and lessons along the way. The road started with the Norfolk Admirals as a Chicago Blackhawks prospect in 2001-02, securing a spot on the AHL All-Rookie Team.

“It was a big learning curve,” said Leighton, who lived with a couple of teammates in Virginia Beach that season. “Sometimes it just takes time to build your game and build confidence and figure out your identity as a goalie. And I just did that over the years and throughout my career.

“It turned out OK.”

It certainly did. In all, Leighton logged 507 regular-season AHL games, seventh-most in league history among goaltenders. His 250 wins put him fifth all-time, and his 50 shutouts rank first, breaking a record held by Johnny Bower. He finished with a 2.38 goals-against average and .916 save percentage in net over an AHL career that had stops in Norfolk, Rochester, Portland, Philadelphia, Albany, Adirondack, Rockford, Charlotte, Syracuse, Chicago, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Ontario and Utica.

Leighton also played 111 NHL games for Chicago, Nashville, Philadelphia and Carolina, his career peak coming in 2010 when he helped to take the Flyers to the Stanley Cup Final against the Blackhawks, the team that had drafted him 11 years earlier.

It was a ride, one that Leighton would have been happy to continue had his body allowed him. He was a workhorse from his first season on, playing 52 games for the Admirals as a rookie and crossing the 50-game mark two other times. He wanted the net, and his play and body allowed him to have it. It was only in the latter half of his career that his body began to deny him as he dealt with injuries and a bout of viral meningitis.

Now 43 years old and running the Michael Leighton Goalie Academy in Windsor, Ont., he is carrying those on- and off-ice lessons with him to mentor the next generation. He runs his own show yet still is able to pass those hockey and life lessons on to his students.

Lessons like a wild 2006-07 season in which he was claimed off waivers three times and traded once, making him part of five NHL organizations in less than 12 months. But it was that trade – a 2007…