Mason burnt bridges on the way out. I'm surprised that his agent let him rip on about being the de facto number one guy and not wanting to look over his shoulder and then comparing to other teams. If Mason wanted to come back, it would have been very easy for him to say that last year was a difficult year, he's going to learn from it and he's going to prepare to be the very best. The rest of the stuff, you leave that in the office with Hextall and Hakstol. You don't go public with that. It's like Brian Boucher when he threw Bill Barber under the bus after the Flyers got bounced in the first round a few years back. You just don't do that.
As for the goaltending options being meager, others have pointed out that the Flyers need to see what their young guys are capable of. There's been numerous teams that have gone with young starters and they've turned out fine. Stolarz has been playing the pro game now for three years. It's time to see what the Flyers have in him. Is he going to be a gamer or he is going to be fodder? Might as well see what happens. I know I'm an advocate for Brian Elliott, but I'm not totally opposed to seeing what Stolarz can do as a starter. Don't forget that if Las Vegas chooses four goaltenders, not all of them are going to play and that might cause issues. As well, not every free agent is going to get signed, so some might be sitting and waiting. The Flyers are actually in a not bad spot right now and this is where we'll see what Hextall is really made of with regards to addressing the goaltending.
