from Sam Donnellon of the Philly Daily News,

Anthony Stolarz, Alex Lyon, Harvard's Merrick Madsen, 18-year-old Canadian Carter Hart, Swedish junior Felix Sandstrom and Ivan Fedotov, the 6-6 Russian drafted in the seventh round of 2015 - the same round that Lundqvist was once taken - that's just a partial list of young goaltenders drafted or signed by this team. Wednesday night, as Lundqvist was once again playing the Wells Fargo Center as if playing a rock concert, Fedotov and Sandstrom were competing in semifinal games of the World Junior Championships - one against the United States, the other against Canada and Hart.

Madsen has a 2.13 goals-against average with the Crimson. If the leash is already short on the immediate horizon for Steve Mason with the return to health of the talented but oft-injured Michal Neuvirth, it becomes no more assuring long term. Stolarz did nothing to deserve his demotion other than have a need to keep busy. His replacement at Lehigh Valley, Lyon, has played in his absence like the goaltender who wowed those following ECAC hockey over the previous two seasons....

Leaned on heavily despite Stolarz's promising - albeit limited - play, Mason will likely get the rest Brodeur rarely needed and never asked for, rest that Lundqvist seemed to need too just a night before, when he surrendered four goals on 19 shots.

"Guys are going to have ups and downs throughout the year, but it's a matter of finding your game when it counts," Mason said before this game began. "I think every organization wants that. And when you have them, you've got to treat them well."

His contract is up after this season. As is that of Neuvirth, who suited up Wednesday for the first time since a knee injury sidelined him in mid-November. Conventional thought is one will be treated well, the other dispatched.

And that whoever remains will be there simply to usher in the next great homegrown goaltender - whichever one of the half-dozen or so prospects he turns out to be.

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