I am pretty sure you all know what happened after the 2010 playoffs, but let me remind you quickly. After carrying the team on his shoulders for the duration of the playoffs, Halak got traded for forwards Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. At that time, many people were claiming it was the worst deal ever, that the Habs got robbed and some even claimed that Halak was far superior to Carey Price.
Lately, the Slovakian goalie played some very solid minutes for the Islanders, and a few people are starting to wonder what's going to happen with Eller, who's playing on the 3rd line here in Montreal, and struggling to keep a decent offensive production. Not to talk about Schultz, who still has never played a single game in the NHL.
As for Lars Eller, he has played a total of 279 games with the Montreal Canadiens, scoring 43 goals and recording 58 assists for a total of 101 points. So, in return of a number one goaltender, we received a 0.36 point-per-game forward whose best season was 8 goals, 22 assists. Not only to mention Ian Schultz has yet to play his first NHL game and he probably never will.
As for Carey Price now, Montreal's starting goaltender, he's been in net for 235 games (which is an average of about 59 games per season), recording a GAA of 2.42 and a 0.918 save %. He has won 119 games, lost 89 games, and lost another 26 in overtime or shootout. This year, he has a 2.34 GAA and a 0.922 save %.
Basically, what I'm trying to show with this article is how the two goaltenders have kept similar stats over the course of these four years, and how we literally got robbed by trading Halak for Eller. Yes, he has played for three teams in four years, but wherever he went, he has always been able to show decent things. Now the defining factor could be the amount of games played in a season. Would Jaro Halak be able to be a starting goalie for more than 60 games? We might have an answer this year, since he in undoubtedly New-York's starting goaltender. As for the trade itself, Eller has shown promising things, but he has never been able to reach his full potential. Will he eventually become the power forward we've been promised, or will he stay a 3rd-4th liner? If Eller does not progress and stays where he is right now, and Halak keeps being on top of his game like he is right now, we will easily be able to say that this trade has been one of the worst even in Montreal's history.
Note: I feel the need to mention I put Price's statistics in here only for a comparison. My personal opinion is that at that time, and even today, Price still has a great potential and is truly the number one goaltender the Montreal Canadiens needed. I am mostly just saying that what Gauthier got in return of Halak was next to nothing.
20 comments:
You're insane. I don't even have anything else to say.
Halek was a restricted free agent ...the habs got eller and Shultz for Halaks rights they aint gonna give up a hoke shit loaded for a guy for a guy that at the time could have possibly signed a huge deal and maybe they couldn't match ..then they give up the two players for nothing
not only did we trade the right goalie but we got good return for halak. at the time halak wasnt a proven starter. was also an RFA iirc. so, we traded an RFA backup goalie with high potential for 2 players, one of which is a 3rd line centre with high potential. seems like a damn good trade to me.
Wow... just wow... hey are you sure you are not @hockeyinsiderr?
Carey is a great REGULAR SEASON goalie. He is not a playoff goalie. His playoff numbers were atrocious going into last season, and even now are still sub par. He hasn't shown the ability to win when it counts. You don't win a cup with a goalie that has a sub .925 Sv%. Price isn't even close. He is a goalie that will get you to the playoffs every year and then do nothing. I really don't care that he won a gold at the Olympics, anyone could have won that with that team in front of them. The curse of Patrick Roy is alive and well. There was even a chance to follow him up with a good goalie but it was blown when Thibeault was kept instead of Thomas Vokoun. Need to do the smart thing. Keep Tokarski and Fucale and trade Price since he has a huge return value. He should get a legit player, prospect and a couple of 1sts as a minimum. This team is overachieving and much like the stock market shooting stars rarely last and always fall to earth.
My only question is, in the nhl, what did Price won that Halak didn t win...NOTHING....so nobody can say that Price is better or Halak is better....Price picked up number 5 and halak 9th rond 200 something...
First of all, thanks for the great feedback to those who actually brought facts to this topic. This is not a flamewar, nor it is the place to trash talk anyone. Habsaddict is considered a blog, where writers give their opinion. In this text, I am bringing numbers of the last 4 years, and only asking what you guys think. I mentioned I totally agree with trading Halak, I just think we could've gotten a little bit more. But who could've foreseen the future ? Not Gainey and definitely not me. I just put some facts in there.
That being said, we got a couple good messages in there especially the one from 4:31 PM Anonymous. Thanks for the great feedback !
@Dan, You see what happens when you respectfully pose an opinion , these morons here complaining are from sites like Hockey Inside Out as well as Habfans.com Those sites will ban you for voicing anything against what they call the 'norm" Like delusional robots..Just remember that most of them once called fans that said Bob Gainey was doing a terrible job as "Trolls" And just look at how bad a job he really did
Why talk about the goaltending when our Top 6 foward position is weak and we have to many fossils on defense now.
LMAO Just look at how many Stanley Cups the Canadiens Havent won in the last two decades. What fools.
Great articulate article by an excellent writer, and facyual as well.
BTW, I suggest staying away from those above mentioned sites like HIO and Habfans. They are mostly older homosexuals and use the sites as a way of picking up unsuspecting guys. Be careful.
For a great goalie Carey Price has a poor playoff record, and if you blame the team in front of him for that, then why do you say Trevor Timmins does an outstanding job after 12 years in Montreal. Either Price is overrated or Timmins is. You cant have it both ways.
HABS Have Another Bad Season O-V-E-R-R-A-T-E-D
If Halak is such a great goalie, why does he keep getting traded? I'd agree he's a good goalie, a top 10, but Price is a top 3. He elevates a mediocre team so they can compete against better teams, the same way Roy did.
@GuySmith: I agree with you. We are definitely lacking offense. I will probably write something around that issue a little later in december if we keep struggling at that position. But for now, it was mostly just a quick recap of the past 4 years since we've traded Halak.
@Anonymous Dec 1st, 12:01AM: Right now, and this is mostly why I thought about writing this article, I must say I am surprised that Halak is definitely bringing the Isles to another level. On paper, Habs and Isles are pretty much the same (except maybe Tavares who might be a little better than everything we have in Montreal). So if both of em managed to get as high as NHL top 5 teams, maybe both their goalies are actually a reason of their success ?
Also worth noting Halak got named NHL's first star of the week for the past 7 days by keeping a record of 3-0-0, 0.95 GAA and .964%
Also, my recollection of Halak's time in St. Louis was that he was pretty inconsistent. Likely a reason they traded him. It remains to be seen if he can be a workhorse number one goalie that can carry a team for 50-60 games, like Price can. Also Halak is a lot smaller than Price and that also probably played a role in the Habs decision to trade him over Price. It's harder for a smaller goalie to stand up to the physical wear and tear of a long season. That said, will always be grateful to Halak for that awesome 2010 playoff run with Montreal. So much fun to watch. Hope Halak does well with the Isles.
It was an excellent query of morality, of complete, this was merely a query of time. Expert coaching jobs tend to be relatively very well emplois informatique à montréal paid out yet incredibly unstable.
as of today Halak has more wins then Price !!!!
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