The Price of Business was Halak

My thoughts on the Habs 2010 Draft class.

http://my.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=9736&user_id=75112

Give the article a read and comment away.

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Never judge another man's decision poor until you actually have proof of it failing!

Chris, a lot of what you wrote is accurate. Wishing for big, tough, point-producing players is great too. I suspect they aren't that easy to come by, and in the cap world, not easy to salvage after a ho-hum season or two. The 'floor' teams, if they make the cut off line, get subsidies from the profitable teams, get the higher draft picks in each round, and when the player's value is up, trade or UFA them. That all conspires against dream teams happening.

I am not a Gauthier fan. I didn't like the rent Moore for a second move. I do believe in team play, and that teams win or lose, not individuals.

I was impressed Gauthier got what he did for Halak. Sure Halak was showcased, and if you look at it from a non-fanboy point of view, the Habs barely squeeked into the playoffs with a healthy team in front of him. Essentially they lost their way in. If Halak had played decently it might have driven his value up, but he didn't. If Halak had not looked so terrible against the Flyers, maybe his value would have been up.  The team played awesome in the first two rounds, proving that a team will beat a collection of stars. But for all the scars, blocks, bruises, and breaks they took the media, led by the Halak Banner waving Red, insisted it was surely Halak who was worthy. I have news for everyone. Give Crosby or Ovechkin a split second and they will beat any goalie from their preferred shooting positions. That is why they are paid the big bucks. The Montreal Canadiens did not give Crosby or Ovechkin those positions, or the time. They hit and chased, the supporting cast opponents sat back and waited for the stars to do it, and they won two full series. Then they met the Flyers who disected the Habs game, took them apart, and romped into the finals with no goaltender at all. All to prove my point, thank you Flyers.

John Davidson was a big goalie, who played well. Halak is a small goalie who plays ok, with stints of well. I hope Mr Davidson doesn't wear this trade but that is St Louis' problem because that is where Halak and his twittering agent have gone to. The players will all say the right things (well maybe not the brothers dim, the Kostitsyns), and fans like me are free to express our views. The nicest part is the falicious arguements used to disparage the points you and innumerable other fans bring up about the records of this goalie or that.  You know the ones that start with "What a stupid..."

Halak is an emotional issue with some folks. Huet was as well. So was Theodore. I sometimes believe that Red Fisher writes all the comments under pseudonoms on varying blogs. Gauthier made a decision, Halak is gone, Huet is gone (probably to the minors to dump bad move salary) and Theodore might land somewhere as a backup mentor.

A lot more goes on in a game than may be apparent. The highlites though are around the crease. A two second burst 30 times a game at each end. Two minutes of highlites out of a 60 minute game. The highlites usually prompted by someone cutting to the bench early, someone missing a check 10 seconds before. Why? Because hockey is a game where the defenders usually outnumber the attackers 6 to 5. Someone has to miss his assignment for the puck to even head towards the net.  That is why powerplays are important, why they're attempting to regulate the size of goalie equipment, and why there is a need for big, strong, fast, skilled goalies. Halak is not big or strong. Price is. That gives the Habs an edge. Price can cover more net, and if he can get that blue to himself is almost unbeatable behind a motivated team.

That is likely why the Habs kept Price and Desjardins. Likely why they drafted a big D-man who is willing to clear that logjam. Likely why they went for a slick center and a hard nosed winger who both are reported to be able to do their jobs. Likely why they changed half the team last year. Say what you might about dollars or speed, but the guys the Habs brought in this last season were motivated to win when the chips were down.

Love Halak. Hope he does well with the Blues and the other teams he will play for. Understand it was a business decision. But also realize it was largely Halak's business decision, and that for once the Habs traded high rather than wait on the hype bubble to burst.

"Jaroslav Halak wants to be an undisputed Number One goaltender and he wants the money to prove it."

I stopped reading right after I read this line. What horse crap! You mean to say that Price DOESN'T want to be a number 1 and have the money to prove it? And just HOW do you know how much money Jaro wants when there was NO contact between the Habs and the Jaro camp? You don't! No one knows how much Jaro would have wanted if the Habs said "you're our guy" and traded Price. Price has been lazy and immature and yet he gets rewarded for all that by being given the keys to the crease......again! Lets hope it works out better this time around because the first go around sucked!

Great post Chris :) I would love to see Horton or Sharp be brought in. I would also like to see us go after Frolov since he is a UFA. I think him and Cammy could make magic yet again :)

Here was my take on the trade, enjoy.

Being a Habs fan, I can certainly understand why many of you are outraged at this trade. I, on the other hand am not. In fact, my respect for Pierre Gauthier just went up another notch for the kahonies he displayed by making this trade.

I will agree that Halak was fantastic in the playoffs but I will not agree that he was the only reason the Habs made it to the 3rd round. The real reason that they made it that far was because they finally came together as a TEAM and finally started to play for each other.

What would have happened if the defencemen never blocked all of those shots?
What would have happened if the PK units stunk it up like they did in Philly?
What would have happened if Cammelleri never scored 13 goals?
What would have happened if the other teams actually got shots up off the ice?

I am willing to bet that the outcomes of the first two series would have been much different. The Philly series clearly showcased the weaknesses that Halak has. I know the trade has hurt a lot of you (including me a bit) but I am asking that you look past the playoffs and try to see the bigger picture.

Let's start by taking a look at the career numbers for both goal tenders:

G W L T GA GAA S% SO
101 56 34 7 251 2.62 .919 9 - Halak

134 60 48 18 355 2.73 .912 4 - Price

As you can see, not much difference. The big thing to keep in mind is the fact that Halak is 25 and Price is only 22.

Now let's take a look at the size of the goal tenders:

Halak - Height: 5-11 Weight: 182lbs

Price - Height: 6-3 Weight: 219lbs

Advantage: Price

From that point of view, it's a bit easier to understand why Gauthier chose Price. It is expected that the size of goalie gear will be reduced in the future so having a bigger goalie to fill more of the net will be a key to success for all teams come that time.

Whether we like it or not, the upsides to Price are greater then those of Halak. I tend to equate Price's growth to that of Marc-Andre Fleury. If you think back, his first couple years were not that great either. Look at him now, 2 trips to the finals and a Cup under his belt.

Here are some other things to consider:

Compare the teams that each tender faced last year.

- You'll see that Price played most of the tougher opponents.

Compare how the team played in front of Price.

- I watched every Habs games last year and I can't count how many times the team left Price high and dry last year with poor defensive efforts. It's a bit unfair to judge a goal tender who never really got the support he needed from his team. However, it's easy to understand why the support wasn't there considering how many key injuries the Habs had last year. By the time everyone got healthy and chemistry developed, the season was more then 1/2 way done. Considering the fact that Price played the majority of his games during that time one can begin to understand the challenges he faced. Kind of hard to get consistent efforts from patch work lineups.

Choices are tough in a Salary Cap world.

- The simple fact is that the Habs could not afford to keep both and had to make a choice. By choosing Price the Habs have created more cap space that can be used to make improvements to the forwards such as resigning Plekanec.

No more goal tending controversies

- By trading Halak, the Habs have given Price a huge vote of confidence in his ability to be the #1 they know he can be. It also allows an opportunity for the Habs to sign a more veteran goal tender to work with Price as a back-up. Besides Huet, Price has never had that. If memory serves me right, Price played pretty well when Huet was around. A good example of someone who would fit the bill would be Martin Biron or Jose Theodore.

Now let's take a look at the Habs needs:

The main goal of the trade was to not take any NHL salary back. They accomplished that AND got two good prospects in return.

Eller is pretty much NHL ready and might even contend for a spot on the big club. It was anticipated that he would have cracked the Blues lineup next year. The other key is his size, he is 6'1" and is also a playmaking center. Everyone said the Habs needed more size at that position.

Schultz is coming off a great year for the WHL champion Calgary Hitmen. He is a 6'3" power forward with goal scoring prowess who is also not afraid to drop the gloves when he needs to. Everyone said the Habs needed more size.

These two guys will provide key development talent that the Habs were lacking.

Hopefully after reading all of this you will now have a better idea of the bigger picture and why Habs GM Pierre Gauthier chose to keep Carey Price over Jaroslav Halak. I've always said to never judge another man's decision poor until you have proof of it failing. I can't wait to see what's in store for 2010/2011.

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Never judge another man's decision poor until you actually have proof of it failing!

I can't believe anyone likes this trade and feels it was inevitable. Halak proved himself as #1 and took the team further in the playoffs than they've gone since 1993. The goaile is the most important position so all common sense pointed to keeping Halak and trading Price.

The Habs could've freed up salary for Halak by trading the Kostitsyns and buying out Hamrlik's last year. Regardless of the details, a good GM would find the way to  keep the core players. (On a side note, some NBA players have adjusted their salaries to help the team sign players; did PG approach Gomez to adjust his ridiculous pay?)

As for Price, I have nothing against him. Gainey ruined Price's short-term career by bringing him up too soon and now the only way for him to blossom is in another city as the pressure and baggage in Montreal have become insurmountable.

I see no reason to be optimistic for the team's near- to medium-future. They can only sign free agents like Gionta and Cammalleri by overpaying them because of the high taxes and high pressure in Mtl. And French prospects like Latendresse and non-French top prospects like Price are micro-analyzed and pressured to the point of having to be the exceptional player who can blossom immediately instead of following the path of 99% of the league's players who develop over a few years.

* sigh *

HL

Good anlysis Chris.

We dealt from a position of organizational strength to shore up other weaknesess. I'm sure Lars Eller is an definite upgrade over Ben Maxwell as a NHL ready pivot. He is also a 6ft centreman who managed to accumulate 80 PIMs in the AHL last year, so we can dispell the soft, european stereotype. I think once this trade is properly analysed a few years later that the Habs won't been viewed as such losers in this deal but the wild card in this is Carey Price. He has no room for error.

If Price manages to perform capably then we gain 2 prospects out of this. If he flops; then Habs are back to square one in net and fans will crucify PG. Gauthier was in a tough spot, it took alot of balls to pull off this trade.

Well written Chris. I like it!