Halak-Price showdown highlights WCH final
They once battled for playing time, now ex-teammates face off for gold
Montreal Canadiens fans were in shock and disbelief when their beloved Habs traded the popular Jaroslav Halak in 2010.
And so was the future Prime Minister of this country.
“What? Halak for two hockey sticks and a bag of magic beans?” Justin Trudeau, a Liberal MP at the time, asked in the House of Commons.
Actually, the return the Canadiens received from Doug Armstrong’s St. Louis Blues for Halak was young forwards Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.
From websites to social media, the reaction to the deal echoed that of Trudeau’s, including comments such as a “shame,” a “nightmare,” and “April Fool’s in June.”
While Canadiens management decided to stick with the younger Carey Price, Halak was by far the more popular of the two goaltenders in Montreal, having just led the Habs to the Eastern Conference final before bowing out to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Just weeks after the trade, Halak returned to Montreal for an autograph session at Fairview Mall in Pointe Claire. The lineup of people clamouring to get his signature seemed endless.
Then just 22, maybe Price was the choice of Canadiens management, but he certainly wasn’t in the eyes of the team’s loyal supporters. Just one year earlier, the frustrated goalie had mockingly lifted up his arms à la Patrick Roy in response to receiving Bronx cheers from the Bell Centre throng during a tough playoff loss against the rival Boston Bruins, a gesture that certainly didn’t sit well in that hotbed of hockey.
Still, the Habs brass didn’t lose faith in Price. In the end, he was the goalie the team’s brain trust opted to move forward with, not Halak.
Six years later, a lot has changed. Trudeau now runs Canada. Price has won a Hart Trophy as NHL MVP and a Vézina as the league’s top goalie. Most consider him the top puckstopper in the world, much to the glee of Canadiens fans who are now on board with him.
Tuesday night, Price will go head-to-head against his former teammate when his Team Canada squad faces off against Halak’s Team Europe in the opener of the best-of-three World Cup of Hockey final.
Price admits he’s a different player and, for that matter, person from the greenhorn who was still adapting to the glaring spotlight of Montreal while he was battling Halak for playing time back in 2010.
“I think I grew up a little bit,” Price said Monday. “I was still pretty young, early in my career at that point in my life. I just kind of grew up a little bit more.”
Asked for a scouting report on Halak, Price was short and to the point. That’s just the way Carey Price is these days.
“Obviously he’s a pretty quiet guy with a calm demeanour,” Price said. “He lets the puck and the play come toward him. Those are a couple of things he does really well.”
Team Canada is a heavy favourite in the final, but the great equalizer in a short tournament is a hot goaltender, a role Halak has shown he can fill.
If he turns in a performance like, say, Martin Gerber did when he and the Swiss blanked Canada 2-0 at the 2006 Turin Olympics, there certainly could be an upset in the making.
The man who traded for Halak six years ago was Blues general manager Armstrong, the GM of Team Canada. As such. Armstrong, like Price, is aware of Halak’s abilities and personality, on and off the ice.
Explained Armstrong: “He’s very calm. He’s very quiet. He sort of stays to himself, and I think in something like this, he doesn’t get rattled. He doesn’t look for the limelight. He probably stays away from it. So he just comes in and does his business and goes home.
“I think that fits in very well to a team like the European team where they’re all getting to know each other. He can just come in and do his job, and he’s doing it very well right now.”
Better than Price, the same man who he lost his job to in Montreal?
In this intriguing Tale of Two Goalies, we’ll find out the answer to that question this week.