From accounts this past summer one goalie worked on his game, studied his habits, found his weaknesses and decided to deal with them. The other goalie signed a contract and showed up. That's not a shot at Steve Mason, the latest player signed to the 4-4.5 million two-year contract comfort zone of Kevin Cheveldayoff.

Mason or any goalie like him, that being a free agent with some level of positive pedigree, was a necessity for the Jets and their GM this summer. The mantra from around and afar of this team has always been 'solve the goaltending issues and this is a playoff team'. Well after seven games one could say they are, as the Jets have the 8th and final spot if the post season started today. Unfortunately aside from the goals being scored that spot is specifically due to the play of one goalie on the Jets and that presents a problem.

The Jets and their GM were not afraid to bury a 4.9 million cap hit in the AHL last year when they assigned Ondrej Pavelec to the Manitoba Moose to start the season last October. That won't happen again but they still have a 4.5 million dollar problem looming and perhaps a bigger one come next season after Hellebuyck's one-year deal expires.

Before the future arrives the biggest concern is how does head coach Paul Maurice manage the usage of the two goalies? Here's the short-term solution as the Jets look to finish the month of October.

@Penguins- Mason
@Blue Jackets- Hellebuyck
vs Penguins- Hellebuyck
@Wild- ???


Here's the theory and right now with the mystery and voodoo that comes with goaltending what more is there to go on unless you want to start a goalie controversy where none exists. Hellebuyck is clearly the better goaltending now and into the foreseeable future and there is no debate.

@ 5v5
Hellebuyck- .938
Mason- .848

Low Danger Save Percentage
Hellebuyck- .1000
Mason- .933

Medium Danger Save Percentage
Hellebuyck- .900
Mason- .778

High Danger Save Percentage
Hellebuyck- .727
Mason- .809

In all aspects of the game other than High Danger saves, Hellebuyck has out-performed Mason and done so with obvious stats.

At some point the Jets will have to make a decision about how this tandem operates and whether they are going to keep splitting starts or ride the clearly better goalie. Before that happens how long do the Jets give Mason to prove he's the better option? At this point, seven games into the season, he probably deserves a chance again but that's about it, wins are a precious commodity and with a relatively healthy roster getting wins now means just as much if not more than getting them when you are mathematically removed from playoff contention.

See what I did there?

So start Mason against the Penguins on Thursday in Pittsburgh and then play Hellebuyck in Columbus after. Get the idea of redemption vs Columbus out of Mason's head and the player's for that matter too. The Penguins and Jets probably still don't like each other from last year's events between Malkin and Wheeler and let Mason get a boost from that.

Now when the Jets come back home for the Sunday night match-up with Pittsburgh again, Mason will have had two road starts and two home starts so Maurice has seen him in different situations. If he played well in Pitts play him again against them at home and see what happens before pulling the rip cord on him being the starter.

Should Mason play well in two games against Pittsburgh let him come back and play against the Wild. Should things continue on current trajectory with Mason it's time to run with Hellebuyck vs the Wild and run with that tandem as clear #1 and #2 until it is not clear.

The reason to bring this up now is that the Jets need to find consistency but as a coach and organization they have to be consistent in their approach. They sold Mason on coming to Winnipeg, right or wrong, and owe him some of the same loyalty they have shown in the past to others on the team and no longer on the team.

That's the PR move for the team to make sure everyone stays on 'the level' but the reality is the Jets have to be consistent in their approach to solving this problem as they have with others. Players notice those things and while it's 'just a business' those business decisions often affect people in ways we don't expect. We've all been there in the office before when consistency is not practiced.

More importantly, with the voodoo-like qualities of goaltending giving one or both of a team's goalies a consistent approach to starts based on results is the best thing the Jets could do with this tandem. They need to figure it out quick, and then act on it, you know before that all-encompassing sense of blind loyalty within TNSE takes over.

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