Since being named tonight's starter by Paul Maurice the other day, J.S. Aubin's name has been in the center of numerous debates. Should Aubin be making the start, or should it be the hot Andrew Raycroft. Only in Toronto does the debate of who should be the starting goalie five games into the season get so much press time. But I guess I'm at fault as well since I'm talking about it. Raycroft was played really well for the Leafs so far, so the argument of sticking with the 'hot' goaltender is a valid point. But if you look at other factors, Maurice might be making the right decision.

Maurice wants to get Aubin into a game to keep him fresh. When looking at the schedule, it makes sense to play Aubin tonight. After tonight's game, the Leafs next game is on Saturday against Calgary, followed by Colorado on Wednesday. Raycroft should play against the better teams, especially when it's on a Saturday night against a Canadian team on hockey night in Canada. After the Colorado game, the Leafs play back to back games on Friday and Saturday night. Aubin may also see action in one of those games. If Raycroft was to start tonight's and Saturday's game, with Aubin getting one of the games next week instead of tonight, it would be over three weeks since he'd play in his last game. Three weeks between games, which were only preseason games, is a difficult task. Back-up goalies are important on any team and should be kept fresh, especially when the teams number one goalie is not an top notch goaltender. Therefore, I agree with Maurice in starting Aubin tonight.