Habs? Wtf?

[TenPenny]

The Montreal Canadiens made their goaltending choice on Thursday, trading playoff hero Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues for two young prospects.

Poor Avro. You won't be able to see that cup next year.

 

[DurkaDurka]

The Habs go through goalies like no other team.

 

[wulfie68]

Well we all knew they weren't going to be able to keep both but I'm a bit surprised at them trading away Halak. Maybe he was the one they got the best offers for...

 

[Avro]

The Montreal Canadiens made their goaltending choice on Thursday, trading playoff hero Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues for two young prospects.

Poor Avro. You won't be able to see that cup next year.

I'm one of the few who like this deal.

Damien Cox sums it up really well....

The Habs, way back when, didn't deal Dryden right after he stunned the Boston Bruins in the '71 playoffs, did they?
Well, that was then is and this is now, a salary cap era in which tough decisions that don't necessarily have to do with the respective talents of players have to be made regularly. The Chicago Blackhawks are going to demonstrate that in the coming weeks as they are forced to partially dismantle a championship team that simply can't be kept together even if the cap, as expected, goes up by $2 million for next season.
With both Halak and Carey Price heading to free agency, the Habs just couldn't keep both. It would have meant that every night upwards of $3 million of valuable cap money would have been parked on the bench wearing a baseball cap rather than a mask.
There was no easy answer here for Habs GM Pierre Gauthier. Whether he kept both or traded either, there was going to be disagreement with his decision.
If anything, Habs fans should be pleased that he probably made the hardest choice by moving Halak given his terrific spring. Gauthier, if he's going to have a more successful run in Montreal than he did in Anaheim or Ottawa, needs to make exactly these types of hard decisions that will cause controversay in a hockey man city like Montreal.
This was a deal, you see, as much about the GM as the player being moved or the players being acquired. Gauthier made a tough choice that he knows will have a great deal of fallout in Montreal, and in doing so acquired young, cheap talent that the Habs needed.

Honeslty I didn't think Gauthier had the balls....glad to see he does. Only weak GM's listen to fans.

Do they win the cup next year?

No, with or without Halak. What happened this year was a fluke.....all be it a pleasant one.

 

[talloola]

I actually thought it was a good decision, as they could get a couple of excellent players for
him, and still have price, who is also a very good goalie, BUT I don't recognize the players they
are coming their way for him, one was a first round draft pick 3 years ago, but hasn't yet played
in the NHL, I know nothing about the other one, so not sure now if this was a good decision ot noy.

 

[imnotcaroline]

We have to believe they know what they are doing. A lot of fans were swearing a storm when they traded off Cristobal Huet too. We'll just have to see.