Netminders don't have to be great. Just hot

Remember when they used to say that goaltending is the most important position in sports? Not just hockey, mind you, but in all of sports? Well, that may continue to be true, but the adage has undergone a bit of facelift in the 2010 NHL play-offs. Because the insinuation was that you needed a great goaltender to provide great goaltending, a proven puckstopper of the highest pedigree. Turns out, that's not the case. You just need a netminder on a roll, a stopper on a hot streak, a masked man who's seeing a beach ball and not a puck.

Of course, goalies such as Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek had a knack for consistently stepping up when games mattered most, and hence, delivered great goaltending in the playoffs. But the beauty is, by the time a netminder reaches the NHL, be it as a starter or backup, it's almost certain he has shown the ability to provide stellar goaltending for at least a stretch. Maybe not for a month straight or an entire season, but at least for a week or three or 10 games or so.

Philadelphia's Michael Leighton, of course, is the best example of the suddenly great goalie in this year's post-season, a journeyman No 3 netminder who returned from a two-month injury layoff and immediately started playing like Bernie Parent in 1975. But Leighton isn't alone, as three of the four starting goalies in the NHL semi-finals began the year as backups, including Antti Niemi, who was Cristobal Huet's No 2 until taking over in mid-March. Is it a risk to ride an unproven goalie? Sure. Unless, of course, you believe he's going to get hot. [e-mail]