Gustavsson should be the No. 1 goalie
BY ROB MACNEIL - FAN FUEL BLOGGER
With James Reimer playing a solid 60 minutes Wednesday night in a 1-0 shutout vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins, does that mean he will be back in the crease vs. the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night?
Well, it's likely Ron Wilson won't announce it until sometime around 7 pm on Saturday, but if I were to guess, I think Jonas Gustavsson will be back between the pipes. And I think he should get the bulk of the workload the rest of the way.
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I say that because it appears that since Christmas, it has been determined that the Monster will be the one to carry the Leafs' playoff hopes unless disaster strikes. That means Reimer was simply playing the roll of regular backup Wednesday night.
This makes sense because Reimer is already locked up for the next two seasons following this one, whereas Gustavsson is set to become a free agent. The Leafs need to get a real good look the rest of the way to see if the Monster really has evolved into the goalie Brian Burke thought he could be when he took a flight over to Sweden to recruit him personally.
Goaltenders tend to develop rather late in their NHL career, so it's not unusual for Gustavsson to have finally found his way at the age of 27.
I say it's time to name Gustavsson the number one goalie for this season and ride him the rest of the way come hell or high water. It's the only way the Leafs are going to find out for sure if he is up to the role before July 1.
Related read:
More Hockey: Is Connolly a poor fit for Leafs?
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