Where were you 10 years ago? At the time, I was still living in London, England and I was recuperating from the “Halak Spring”, surely you remember that unexpected run to the eastern conference final during which the Habs slayed the Penguins and the Capitals before falling at the hand of Brian Boucher and the Flyers… Being on the other side of the pond, that meant a lot of very late nights, watching the games live from midnight to 3 AM most times and then getting back up for work at 5:30 (yeah, I had an office job but if you started at 7:00, you could get out at 15:30 so I was an early bird catches the worm type). On that particular day, I was on my way home when a TSN alert came through on my phone…or started to come through just as I was entering a tunnel on the underground. I wondered for 15 minutes what was happening but I had a strong suspicion. While Halak had taken us far that Spring, he wasn’t the one with the highest pedigree and when I finally emerged from the Tower Hill station, my suspicion was confirmed… Gone was Jaro, he was dealt to St. Louis for a Dane centre named Lars Eller and a winger by the name of Ian Schultz. I was absolutely livid and proceeded to swear in French at the top of my lungs which netted me more than a few surprised looks…Like a lot of people, I went on social medias to express my annoyance (not everyone was on Twitter back then) and I wasn’t alone since #Halak was trending.
On that day, Pierre Gauthier was called many things but none of them were very nice. Habs nation was outraged and wondered how he could trade the man responsible for the Canadiens beating both Crosby and Ovechkin in a memorable playoffs tournament. 10 years on though, it’s hard to argue that he made a mistake, I feel that more than a few of us need to apologize to Gauthier. While Halak gave us a Spring to remember, we have to admit that since he left, he hasn’t really been a number 1 goaltender. Yes, he has been part of some 1A and 1B tandems but he never really was THE man, THE one and only man for his team like Price has been. Looking at their numbers, it’s easy to see that Price has played a lot more, even though he has missed some significant time due to injuries.
Price: 682 games played, 48 shutouts, 348 wins, 250 losses, 74 ties, 2.49 GAA and a .917 save percentage.
Halak: 520 games played, 50 shutouts, 272 wins, 167 losses, 58 ties, 2.48 GAA and a 0.916 save percentage.
Sure, from a GAA and save percentage standpoint, their numbers are nearly identical but Price has sustained these numbers for 162 more games. You see a lot of rubber in 162 games. Furthermore, it’s also interesting to look at their playoffs numbers:
Price: 60 games played, 5 shutouts, 25 wins, 31 losses, 2.53 GAA and .914 save percentage.
Halak: 30 games played, 0 shutouts, 13 wins, 15 losses, 2.39 GAA and .924 save percentage.
Yes, Halak has the better GAA and save percentage in the playoffs but that’s while playing only half of the games played by Price. While neither has a Cup to his name, clearly Price is more relied on when the stakes are high… except in that Spring of 2010 of course. In hindsight and considering that Carey Price has almost rewritten the Canadiens’ record book in net, it’s hard to argue with Gauthier’s decision. As I write this, Carey Price is the leader for games played by a goaltender with the Habs, in wins, in saves and in shots received. He’s third in the shutout rankings, 5th in career save percentage and 8th in career GAA. He’s also claimed all the individual awards available to goaltenders in 2014-2015 and has showed time and time again that he can be the best goaltender in the world. There is a reason why he is so often voted as such by the NHL players.
You may hate the fact that he has failed to bring a 25th Cup to Montreal and that he has such a big contract but let’s face it, without Carey Price in the last 10 years, there would have been even less joyous occasions for the Tricolore. Slowly but surely, he has taken his place amongst the Canadiens’ greats and when he decides to hang them up, he will be remembered as such, Stanley Cup or not…
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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