Anton Dubinchuk
aho
Not really. That season we had Faulk (RHD), Hamilton (RHD), Pesce (RHD) and TVR (RHD). If Rod was really keen on only keeping the RH-LH pairings, he would have gone with Fleury.
Coach just liked TVR better and didn't like Fleury as much. I don't think it was that complicated. Coaches get to see a lot more of players than we do. Subtle parts to their game. How well do they gel with others. How hard do they work off the ice or in practice. How he handles pressure. etc...
We fans like to think that by watching training camp/pre-season games, we know who the better player is or how is doing better, like when people wanted Gauthier to always make the team over other guys (like Necas for instance). In reality, we get glimpses of the whole thing and it gives us fodder for message boards. I do it too, so I'm not picking on others, just pointing it out in general.
Time has proven that to be quite reasonable.