Fact based purely on conjecture. People were saying the same thing you've said about Chris Osgood, M.A. Fleury, and Corey Crawford. The fact is that a good enough goalie gets you far enough. Reimer played that part and his stats are fact, not conjecture. He had to go because it was a numbers game here in Toronto and possibly because his contract demands were too high. The goal is to have a team that consistently competes. In my mind, Reimer showed enough to warrant a starter's job.
But this is a thread about Bernier. The hope is that he comes back better than before in the mental side of things for next season. There's also been groin issues, historically speaking, as well as the intrinsic size problem. With that being said, Bernier has performed quite well in spurts and the thinking is that a technically sound goalie puts up consistent performances. Playing well consistently is the name of the game for starters.
