Canucks: Why a condensed schedule calls for a creative goaltending plan

Several goaltending deployment strategies have stood the test of time. Article content

There’s going with your top guy as long as possible, gut feeling of who should play on a given night, and playing who has measured up best against a particular opponent. Article content Article content

Former Vancouver Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault turned trade acquisition Roberto Luongo loose like a thoroughbred in his first two NHL seasons as the starter. Ride him hard was the rationale.

Luongo logged 76 in his first season and 72 games in his second and a lot had to do with his emergence as an elite goalie forcing backups reduced to minor support roles in Dany Sabourin, Curtis Sanford and Drew MacIntyre, who combined for just 27 games those two seasons.

Luongo’s numbers in the campaigns