When Steve Mason signed on the dotted line and agreed to a contract with the Winnipeg Jets this past summer, it was done with pretty much everyone and their dog understanding that Steve Mason was now the Jets’ number one goaltender.

Steve Mason was going to get the lion’s share of starts – which is what he was looking for when shopping himself around to various NHL clubs this summer – and as an added bonus, he’d help take some pressure off of young Connor Hellebuyck who is still considered the Jets “goalie of the future” but slumped last season when the pressure was on him and other young goalie Michael Hutchinson.

Steve Mason was the veteran starter who the Jets needed to settle things down in goal. He still might be.

But after two near disastrous starts to open up the 2017-18 season in which he allowed 14 goals in that time (admittedly many of the goals allowed could also be linked to breakdowns in defense and how the team played in front of Mason), Connor Hellebuyck was given a chance to start a game or two and he hasn’t looked back since.

Posting an 8-0-2 record with a .936 save percentage, Hellebuyck has been amazing for the Jets to begin the season and you can argue that on many of those nights, he’s been the Jets best player helping steal wins (or loser points) that the Jets probably wouldn’t have earned had they been getting the same goaltending they had last season.

But this begs the question… What about Steve Mason? The man the Jets signed to a 2 year, 8.2 million dollar contract sits patiently on the bench and is suddenly the Jets backup goalie for the foreseeable future.

Or is he?

Connor Hellebuyck isn’t going to go through the season undefeated (it would be nice, but, let’s be a tough realistic) and at some point he’s going to suffer a loss, maybe even two in a row and that’s when the goaltending situation is going to be tricky.

Even if hypothetically Connor continues his hot streak, the Jets are about to his a stretch where they will play five games in the span of nine days, so one has to figure that Mason will have to get a start or maybe even two in the next week or so. What happens if he plays as well as Hellebuyck has? (A nice problem to have for sure, but a problem none the less)

Do you continue to ride the hot hand of Hellebuyck and even after a loss or two, do you keep putting him out there as your incumbent Jets starter? Or, when Connor does suffer through those first couple of losses – regardless of how Connor himself plays – is it time to try and run Mason as your true number one goalie.

Sound off in the comments below, or let us know what you would do through our Twitter feed!

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