The greatest season in recent memory for the St. Louis Blues officially began ten years ago, this June. Goalie Roman Turek was a highly-coveted netminder heading into the 1999 expansion draft, and was acquired from the Dallas Stars for only a second round pick in the '99 entry draft. All year the move was touted as the steal of the century for the Blues -? partially because our fascination with Y2K often prompted such hyperbole -- but mostly because Turek backstopped the Blues to the first of two Jennings trophies (awarded to the goaltender of the team which allows the fewest goals), and their first ever Presidents' Trophy as the league's winningest team. Blues fans, of course, remember what came next. The image of Turek allowing a goal from center ice in an eventual Game Seven upset loss to the San Jose Sharks is burned into our minds, and probably Turek's as well. He never really recovered from the experience, and a similar playoff breakdown the following year prompted a trade to Calgary after only two seasons. To this day, the starting job between the pipes for the Blues has been a never ending game of musical chairs. Including Turek, 17 different players have seen time in goal since the 1999-00 season. Only four teams in the league have had more. Two of those clubs, the Bruins and Canucks, appear to have finally settled with their respective All-Star goalies, Tim Thomas and Roberto Luongo. As for the Kings and Lightning, they too appear to have settled quite comfortably in the league's cellar. Veteran Chris Mason is the latest in the long line to mind the net for the Blues, and to his credit he's performed admirably. His numbers (1.90 GAA 92.5 save %) since wresting the starting job from Manny Legace are indeed remarkable for a team whose defensive unit has labored through numerous injuries. And even though the Blues are only playing .500 hockey in front of him, Mason has impressed enough that the job will remain his for the rest of the season, and he will be a strong candidate to keep it for the 2009-10 season. Therein lies the problem. When one looks at the list of goalies who have won Stanley Cups over the past twenty years, Hall-of-Fame caliber names like Roy, Hasek, Belfour and Brodeur take up most of it. Chris Mason is extremely capable, and certainly the best option the Blues have, but he's also a 32-year-old career backup. Even if he continues playing this well, he is at best another stopgap solution, who won the job from another stopgap, as the Blues continue to be confounded in their search for their goalie of the future. Also working in Mason's favor are the lack of alternatives that will be available this offseason. While talents like Niklas Backstrom, Tim Thomas, and Nikolai Khabibulin are all due to become unrestricted free agents, their clubs will likely be first in line to lock them up. Current backup Chris Holt and prospects Ben Bishop or Marek Schwarz could push for time, but their hopes will likely be confined to serving as Mason's understudy. So in all likelihood, barring a major trade, the job is Mason's to lose. It's also a job that hasn't been held for longer than 143 games by any Blues goalie since the departure of Grant Fuhr. Mason's time to shine could fizzle out as quickly as Turek, Legace, or any of the other names stitched on the back of a Blues' goalie jersey over the past ten years. Besides the fact that a revolving goalie door does not particularly lend to a winning formula, fan interest in the Blues is also hampered in another way. Goalie is a high-profile position, and the man who holds it is often a face of the franchise, commanding the kind of star power that helps fill the seats. Since the Blues have routinely misfired with their choice of netminder so often that it is filled with one newcomer after another, we can barely keep track of the players who leave town almost as soon as they arrive. Without the old reliable guys like Fuhr and Curtis Joseph to cheer for, it makes it all the more harder to cheer. Yet in the slew of rookie flameouts, career journeymen, serviceable backups and outright bizarre experiments, a few Blues netminders remained long enough to touch the hearts of fans. In no particular order, here are my top five favorite goalies that couldn't quite make the cut. Brent Johnson ? BJ got the first shot at taking over after Turek floundered, and he answered the call astoundingly. Coming in relief of Turek, Johnson allowed only two goals in two games against the Colorado Avalanche, who went on to win the Stanley Cup. The next year he became the fourth goalie in league history to record three consecutive playoff shutouts, thrice blanking the Chicago Blackhawks and rekindling the bitter Blues/Hawks rivalry (ironically, this feat was matched in the very same playoff round by Patrick Lalime, who would later become a Blue himself). Repeated injuries kept him off the ice, and patience wore from thin to none by 2003, when he was traded to Phoenix. It was not altogether tragic to see him go, as the constant reminders of his being Sid Abel's grandson went with him, but general manager Larry Pleau might have reconsidered this trade had he known Johnson would be kicking off this game of musical chairs. Fred Brathwaite ? Brathwaite came to St. Louis as part of the trade that exiled Turek to Calgary. He played reasonably well for two seasons splitting time with Brent Johnson, and to present day remains the only Blues goalie to have ever appeared in a rap video, along with the St. Lunatics in Jermaine Dupri's "Welcome to Atlanta." (More irony: four years after the video debuted, Brathwaite would be signed by the Atlanta Thrashers. And never played a game for them). Entertainment credentials and numbers aside, Brathwaite was beloved primarily because at least once per season he would make a dazzling save that put all other dazzling saves to shame. Search for "Fred Brathwaite amazing save" on YouTube sometime and prepare to stare in disbelief. In short, he wasn't all that great, but Freddy was definitely entertaining. Tom Barrasso ? Pleau should have called a press conference to announce the signing of the former Stanley Cup champion and Vezina winner. And that press conference would have consisted of only a shrug, followed by a rhetorical "Got any other bright ideas?" Only ten games into the 2002-03 season, the Blues started four different goalies, only to watch them all fall to the injury bug. Barrasso faired no better, and was released after garnering a 1-4 record in six tries along with a back injury. Barrasso also signed a one-day contract with Pittsburgh later that summer to retire as a Penguin, but his farewell to the NHL came as a Blue. Bonus points to this bizarre signing for being eerily reminiscent of the trade for Jim Carey, Net Detective a few years prior. Chris Beckford-Tseu ? His time with the Blues organization came largely in stints with Worcester and Peoria of the AHL, and his only time on NHL ice thus far was in a relief effort against the Kings last season. He makes this list only because I would absolutely kill for a Beckford-Tseu Blues jersey. Curtis Sanford ? The 2002-03 campaign for the Blues is likely best remembered for the numerous injuries to their goalies, prompting seven different starters over the course of the season. The Sandman arguably capitalized best on the opportunity provided by the Blues' goaltending carousel. Sanford had previously starred for a St. Louis hockey franchise -? just up the river with the UHL's Missouri River Otters -? and after Johnson, Brathwaite and Reinhard Divis all went down to injuries, Sanford won the starting job not just by default, but through stellar play (1.96 GAA, 91.2 save %) that echoed his success with the River Otters. It wasn't long before a freak groin injury claimed Sanford as well, however. Like Johnson, repeated injuries would keep the upstart phenom from reaching the potential he showed, and while he would compete for the starting job over several more seasons with the Blues, he too would leave after only a few seasons. Chris Mason is the latest to join this troupe, and has indeed played well enough to keep the starting job until further notice. Blues fans everywhere are hoping he keeps up the pace required of a starting NHL goaltender. But if history is to serve as any indicator, that notice could be coming sooner, rather than later.