Where has the real Steve Mason gone?

Now, I am going to preface this with the fact that I am a huge Steve Mason fan.  Last year in his Calder trophy winning rookie campaign, Mason took the very mediocre Blue Jackets team to the playoffs for the first time in the history of the young franchise.  He posted a 33-20-7 record with a 2.29 GAA and a .916 Save Pct.  He looked like the future face of the franchise and a strong cog to build the team around. This year, his goals against average has ballooned to over 3.2 and his save percentage has slipped below the sacred .900 mark.

The question being posed now, is this the famous sophomore slump or the sign of a fluke rookie season?  First of all, the Oakville, ON native is still only 21 years old.  He has only one year of NHL experience and he was asked to shoulder the weight of a team with playoff aspirations that they probably shouldn't have had.  Coach Ken Hitchcock is a winner, he always has been and anything less is unacceptable on the teams he coaches.  This may have inflated the expectations for Mason going into this year.

Mason seems to be a case where, not that he wasn't ready to play in the NHL, but wasn't ready to assume the role of singlehanded savior to an underachieving team.  Like Carey Price in Montreal, I believe Steve Mason has a very bright future ahead of him, but will need those requisite years of development before he can be crowned the guaridan of an entire franchise.