"It really wasn't all that long ago that Miikka Kiprusoff and Jean-Sébastien Giguère were considered two of the best goaltenders in the world.

And they still have the contracts to prove it.

Kiprusoff, the 34-year-old Calgary Flames backstop, is in only the third year of a six-year, $35-million (U.S.) deal he signed in 2008, two years removed from winning the Vézina Trophy.

Giguère isn't so lucky, playing out the final year of a contract that came after he led the Anaheim Ducks to the 2007 Stanley Cup and wondering just where his next NHL opportunity will come.

Because it doesn't appear to be with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Both are earning $7-million this season, putting them tied for third behind only Roberto Luongo and Henrik Lundqvist as the NHL's highest-salaried backstops in an era when the trend is toward paying goalies less and less.

But when Kipper and Jiggy met on Saturday in Toronto in a sleepy game the Flames eventually won 2-1 in a shootout, their storylines had little to do with any run at a Vézina.

With both club's playoff hopes of the slim-to-nil variety, Saturday was more about the two veterans fending off challenges from cheap, young goalies in their organizations, about their future in the league and all of the various rumours and intrigue surrounding their struggles in the crease."