Nothing in the past 25 years has suggested that the Flyers are willing to be patient with a young goalie. I would be shocked (and disappointed) if the Flyers chose Mason as the young goalie they finally showed confidence in to lead the team to glory.
I agree. Which again is why I haven't said this is what they ARE doing or what they SHOULD do. All I am saying, and have been saying, is that if they want to do this, they have to do it right and be 100% comitted to him, at least for this year. If they are not doing this, fine. But again, IMO you have to either say we are going to give Mason the shot at being the guy for the future or you have to say Mason is not our guy. You can't say, "Let's see what we have in Mason, oh by the way we are going to bring in a better goalie on a bigger contract." That is a bad idea.
I also wouldn't see Luongo as a 'stop-gap'. He's two years removed from a very solid run to game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final; he's still a good starter.
I would absolutely call him a stop gap. Stop-gap doesn't mean he is not a good goalie. I have said from the beginning that Luongo is better than Mason. The problem is that he will turn 35 next season. Realistically, he has what, 3-4 years tops? Best case scenario Luongo is your starter for 3-4 years. That is best case. Injuries, age, etc. might have a say in that. Again, as I have said, I wouldn't be opposed to that. But it would still be a stop-gap, as in, not a long term solution (see: Roman Cechmanek, Robert Esche, Brian Boucher, etc).
My basic point has been from the beginning is that the Flyers have to go all-in basically. Go with Mason or move on. Bring in a guy to challenge him, fine. No qualms with that. But bringing in Luongo would not be challenge, it would be making Mason the backup (which is fine, if that is what you want to do, but if you think Mason has a shot to be the starter, bringing in another starting goalie will not help in that regard).