The rumours have been swirling around the St. Louis Blues goal crease for a while now: would they re-sign Chris Mason, sign the veteran Marty Turco, or try and strike a deal with the Vancouver Canucks to bring Cory Schneider into the fold? Those were the three most prominent rumours making the rounds, but the Blues looked elsewhere in an attempt to figure out their goaltending situation, aquiring Jaroslav Halak from the Montreal Canadiens for prospects Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.
Halak has put together two pretty solid seasons with Montreal while sharing the goaltending duties with Carey Price, but he became a household name for hockey fans during Montreal’s run to the Conference Finals in this spring’s Stanley Cup playoffs. Halak almost single handily beat out the top seeded Washington Capitals with one of the greatest goaltending performances in recent memory. He carried on with that strong play during a seven game series in which the Canadiens ulimatley emerged victorious over the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Halak play started decline against Philadelphia, but he could hardly be faulted for the Canadiens failure to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.
Halak’s strong play left the Canadiens in the unenviable situation of having one the hottest goaltenders in the league on their roster, but also one of the top goaltending prospects. Carey Price was drafted to be the franchise goaltender in Montreal for years to come, and while he has shown brilliance at times, he has failed to put together a strong consistent effort, and ultimately lost the goaltending battle to Halak this past season.
Montreal also felt hamstrung given the fact that Halak was set to become a restricted free-agent on July 1st, which forced the Canadens to decide who would be the goaltender moving forward. Montreal’s brass clearly must feel that Price still has the better upside of the two, and also still feel he is capable of reaching that potential in Montreal. While this does show Price the organization still has extreme confidence in him, there will be immense pressure on Price to perform at an elite level during this upcoming season. Halak finished last season with 26 wins, and also finished fourth in the league in save percentage and ninth goals against average. The Canadiens would not have even made the playoffs without Halak in goal, let alone reach the Conference Finals, and now the fans will expect Price to do the same next season. The bar has been set very high for Carey Price in 2010-2011, and it is still a question as to whether he is capable of exceeding that level.
If Halak suddenly starts to struggle as a member of the St. Louis Blues, the pressure could ease a bit, but Price’s relationship the fans in Montreal has be rocky to say the least, and it will be strained even further the Habs struggle early. The fact that Montreal GM Gauthier did not get a bigger name back in return is also not helping matters. The Blues roster is loaded with young talent, but the Canadiens were not able to land any member on the Blues current roster. The two prospects being sent back in return for Halak are two of the brightest in the St. Louis’ system, but there will undoubtedly be growing pains along the way, and no one can ever be too sure what they are truly getting back in return when dealing with prospects. The fact remains that it is highly unlikely that either Eller or Schultz can step into Montreal’s line-up next season, and put up huge offensive numbers, which will only add to the spotlight that will be shining on Price this season.
The deal appears to be a no-brainer from the Blues perspective. Chris Mason, who started in St. Louis the last two seasons, was an unrestricted free-agent, so the Blues had to make a decision regarding the direction they wanted to take in goal. While Mason provided solid goaltending in St. Louis, he did struggle at times last season. Halak is seven years younger then Mason, and has already shown more of an upside in his game. Some are thinking that Halak has peaked too soon, and will never reach these levels again, but his numbers during the regular season were terrific, and his performance with Slovakia at the Olympics along with his play in the playoffs would indicate that Halak could be as good as advertised.
The Blues are loaded with talent at the forward position throughout their organization, so Eller and Schultz were both expendable assets. St. Louis has shown an incredible knack for selecting top notch prospects at forward and on defense, but they have failed mightily when it comes to grooming goaltenders. The last St. Louis goaltender to come through the system and star at the NHL level was Curtis Joseph, so seeking a goaltender from outside the organization appears to be the right move. There is always a risk involved when trading top prospects who could both blossom into top scorers in the NHL, but the possibility of landing one of the top goaltenders in the game is one that the Blues cannot pass up.