The door's wide open.

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Carey Price.

Photograph by : Getty Images

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But somebody has to have the game - and the guts - to walk on through.

Of course, it could still be Martin Brodeur in net for Canada when the 2010 Winter Olympics open in Vancouver in 15 months.

But there were enough folks wondering about what age either has done to Brodeur's game or will have done by Vancouver that he certainly wasn't a lock to be the No.1 goalie for Team Canada when this season started.

Even after winning another Vezina last season, he was going to have to play well this season. Even he said so.

Now, he'll have to sit mending his surgically repaired arm on the sidelines for three or four months and watch others take a run at the Team Canada netminding job he held from the second game of the Salt Lake City Games, through the 2004 World Cup and to the conclusion of the '06 Turin Games.

There's an impressive list of challengers. But they've got to stake their claim. If they can't do it now, with Brodeur sidelined, it's unlikely they'd be able to do it in a half-season next fall.

Roberto Luongo, of course, is considered the heir apparent to Brodeur. But the Canucks missed the playoffs last spring and are facing a long, tough battle to make it this year, so there's no certainty that Luongo will have the opportunity come April to make his case for '10 by taking his team on a long playoff run.

Then there's Carey Price, still just 21 years old. The Canadiens started Jaroslav Halak in a 4-3 shootout loss in Columbus last night just to save Price for centre stage tonight at the Air Canada Centre on national television against the surprisingly potent Leafs.

It no longer seems a long shot that Price could be the man in Vancouver. The B.C. native's got a strong team in front of him with the potential to make a serious run at the Stanley Cup next spring.

He showed up for camp this year lighter and fitter, understanding, perhaps, that his play was part of the reason the Habs didn't go further in the post-season last spring. He has a strong backup in Halak, which should allow the Canadiens to give Price more rest this season than other No.1 goaltenders, and thus keep him fresher for the playoffs.

If the Habs were to go all the way with Price in net, it's inescapable that he won't be a serious candidate to get the start for the 2010 Games.

After that, the next two serious candidates would likely also be youngsters, 23-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury and 24-year-old Cam Ward. Fleury has a visit to the Cup final on his resumé and Ward owns a Cup ring. If Luongo and the Canucks falter, both could figure into the Olympic discussion if they have strong seasons.

No one ever seems to give Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere consideration, but he's having another strong statistical season. Veterans Chris Osgood and Marty Turco, on the other hand, are both struggling, with Turco in particular in danger of ruling himself out as a candidate altogether unless he can get his season turned around.

The dark horse, finally, might be Tampa Bay's Mike Smith, virtually rubberized this season with all the pucks he's seeing behind the leaky Tampa defence. That said, Smith has played superbly and heroically, but he'd need a lot of other goaltenders to fall by the wayside before his number came up.

Brodeur started this season brilliantly and looked like he'd break two major goaltending records and sew up the 2010 goaltending job by December.

But his injury has changed everything. The king isn't dead, but he's wounded, and now those who would take his job must prove themselves worthy.