There are a couple of ways to look at the Vancouver goalie situation. I’ll choose my words carefully as to avoid the wrath of Canuck-nation. Cory Schneider’s predictable displacement of Roberto Luongo caught a few people by surprise, but for many loyal to the guy they call Bobby Lu, the hook might have been a tad premature.
Vancouver’s roster is filled top to bottom with top shelf talent quite literally and the goaltending position is no exception. For the past six seasons, Luongo has been the man in Vancouver. With no less than 31 wins in each of his half-dozen years in the Pacific northwest, Luongo has been a rock star with the Canucks. Vancouver's trip to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final before being shut out at home by Tim Thomas and the Boston Bruins was hardly all Luongo, good or bad. Vancouver does have a lot to be thankful for though.
Since acquiring the four-time All Star and William Jennings winner, Vancouver has re-emerged as one of the perennial favorites in the Western Conference. Again, Luongo played a large part in the Canucks success, but the collective team has proven to be as talented with or without the 33-year old veteran. His numbers last year would be a welcome addition to almost any other team, but one gets the impression that the Vancouver brass was looking for a reason to give Schneider the nod.
Cory Schneider is a veteran of approximately 68 NHL games. His collective career stats are pretty impressive for sure, but he has to be a question mark even to the most convinced of Canuck fans. He was the flavor of the last three months for Vancouver as he filled in for an injured and semi-erratic Luongo for parts of last season. He replaced Luongo in the playoffs against the Los Angeles Kings, but we all know how that series ended up.
Schneider had the somewhat enviable position of being the qualified “back-up” as everyone’s favorite. If the Canucks struggled, the microscopes went directly to the goalie play. Right or wrong Luongo got benched, but it wasn’t enough in the end as the Vancouver sticks went silent, bowing out to the eventual Stanley Cup champs in five games.
Canuck general manager Mike Gillis has a good “problem” on his hands when it’s all said and done. Luongo wants to be “the man”, but he’ll have to earn it back. Competition between Luongo and Schneider before and during the season to “one-up” each other for playing time is a beautiful situation for the Vancouver fans.
From a fantasy standpoint you’ll see a situation like St. Louis had last season with Brian Elliott and Jaro Halak. Both keepers played great when they got in, but they ultimately split the time down the middle, which hurt their collective fantasy value. From a drafting standpoint, I’d steer clear of this duo until the later rounds.