The Flyers going into the Stanley Cup playoffs with questions about their goalies is a little like Achilles choosing those heelless armored boots for the big battle.
Of his two options, Laviolette has to be most intrigued by Bobrovsky, and not just because he won a Cup in Carolina with a rookie goaltender in 2006. Brian Boucher was part of the goaltender picture last year, when the Flyers lost the Cup Finals in six games to Chicago. Laviolette was the coach who slotted Boucher behind Ray Emery and Michael Leighton whenever either of them was healthy.
Boucher is 34. It may be unfair to him, but there is the unavoidable suspicion that he has reached whatever his peak is going to be. Bobrovsky is 22. His future is remarkably bright. And if he can just get hot for a playoff run with this team in front of him, then his present might be good enough to win the Cup.
Ah, but once upon a time Antero Niittymaki was that intriguing young goalie. Once upon a time, a veteran Flyers team went into the postseason with Roman Cechmanek as the answer. There was Robert Esche and there was Marty Biron and, well, there isn't space here to list the ones that came before that.
The only thing certain about Bobrovsky is uncertainty. No one - not Laviolette or Paul Holmgren or the players or Bobrovsky himself - can know how the young Russian will react to the grind of a long playoff run.
