Was the one the Flyers had good enough? Did he play the big game and steal a win? Did he blow a win? Could the team win a championship with him?
Would the Flyers ever answer the goalie question?
The names in just my time with the Flyers could be inserted in any of the aforementioned story angles. Some of the bigger targets in this were Roman Cechmanek, Brian Boucher, Robert Esche, Jeff Hackett, Antero Niittymaki and, for the last 2 years, Marty Biron.
They came in accompanied by big headlines, they became stories unto themselves, and went out accompanied by big headlines.
And here we go again.
Sometime this week the Flyers will officially announce what has become common knowledge, that the current answer in net, Biron, is going to be replaced by the next big answer in net.
His name is Ray Emery.
The Flyers and Emery have come to terms on a deal that reportedly will pay him $1.5 million for 1 year. The deal can't be signed until July 1, when free agency starts. But the team is expected to announce the deal sooner.
It means the end of Biron's time as a Flyer, and another player - a goalie - the Flyers are going to take a chance on.
Like Emery, every one of those other goalies was supposed to deliver the Flyers back to the "Promised Land," but they were all big parts of teams that didn't get there.
One of the more unforgettable moments was Cechmanek standing at center ice in Ottawa as the Flyers were going down in first-round flames, yelling at the bench in his native language with no one understanding what he was saying.
They did understand what he was doing, and the next day in practice pucks were flying head-high.
Then there was "Silent Bob" Esche not talking to the media because one of them picked the Devils in the opening round. Hackett was supposed to be the answer, but he came down with a chronic inner-ear infection and was too dizzy to play.
