Too Early For Goalie Controversies

There has been a frenzy of activity lately around the idea that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks are already embroiled in starting goalie controversies. It’s way too early to jump to that conclusion.

The Canucks are only three games in (0-3) and Luongo was pulled in the last game. For his career, he’s at best a .500 goalie in October but lights out the remainder of the season. Given that it’s also an Olympic year and Luongo is an apparent lock to play for Team Canada, the expectations in Vancouver are irrationally high. I’d be more worried about the lack of effort being put forth by the defensive squad. Luongo’s going to have a bad game now and then, but no goalie will be successful with the amount of high quality opportunities opponents are getting.

Maple Leaf fans are another beast on their own. I think a number of them believe Jonas ‘The Monster’ Gustavsson is the annointed one, and that magnifies any mistake that Vesa Toskala happens to make. I think coach Ron Wilson didn’t know what to expect, but he has bent to the will of the fan here and Gustavsson will start against Ottawa. I think the Leafs are better off playing a true tandem until one of these guys steps up to be a real number one. It could be Gustavsson.

Let cooler heads prevail here. Two percent of a team’s games played is not enough of a marker to determine anything beyond a slow start.

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