As part of their “Winnipeg Jets Day” coverage at NBC’s Pro Hockey Talk, writer Adam Gretz takes a look at the Jet’s newest goaltender Steve Mason and analyzes just what his addition could mean for the team in 2017-18.
After years of suffering under mediocre goaltending from Ondrej Pavelec, the Jets finally looked to turn the page in 2016-17 when they handed the reins over to rookie Connor Hellebuyck. Unfortunately, Hellebuyck didn’t fare much better and needed to be spelled by backup Michael Hutchison and, eventually, Pavelec himself.
Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff aimed to correct this issue on July 1st this offseason by signing former Philadelpha Flyers UFA Steve Mason to a two-year, $8.2 million contract. Mason, Gretz argues, is the closest thing the Jets have had to a starting goaltender ever, but will he provide enough of an upgrade on the team’s former stable to get them back into the playoffs?
As Gretz points out, the Jets don’t need Mason to be a Vezina candidate or in his own words, they “don’t need him to be Dominik Hasek.” All they need is Mason to provide the team with good enough goaltending so that they’re not being consistently done in by bad goaltending. Can Mason be that guy in Winnipeg? Time will tell.
