Montreal Canadiens face goaltending controversy
If Montreal Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier thought that he was finally putting to rest the goaltending controversy that has existed in Montreal between Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak by dealing Halak over the summer to the St. Louis Blues, he
was dead wrong. Only one pre-season game into the season and already the fans at the Bell Centre are restless and worried about their regular season dreams which rest squarely on the shoulders of Carey Price.
Price was a given a rousing ovation when the lineups were announced over the PA Wednesday night in Montreal, but those cheers turned to jeers after Carey Price let in four goals on his first eight shots and was eventually replaced by Curtis Sanford. It certainly
wasn't the start to the season that anyone in Montreal was hoping for. Price refused to address the media immediately after the game, but spoke on Thursday and urged Montreal fans and media to calm down and take a deep breath.
Sending a message
Carey Price arrived in Montreal with high expectations, and from the word 'go' had the unfailing support from, then, general manager Bob Gainey. Price had an impressive first season being called up from Hamilton and providing the Canadiens with a solid option
between the pipes filling in for Cristobal Huet who was then the number-one goalie in Montreal. That year the Canadiens eventually went to tops in the conference under the guidance of coach Guy Carbonneau. It led to Gainey shipping Huet at the trade deadline
in hopes of riding Carey all the way and sending a message to the Montreal faithful that the organization believed that the kid was for real. The Canadiens eventually lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Since then, Price has failed to live up to the hype and his initial billing as the Canadiens' goaltender of the future. His regular season numbers have remained mediocre and he has failed to win a playoff game in two seasons. Last season Jaroslav Halak emerged
from perennial backup to team savior by leading the underdog Canadiens to the conference final. Did performance lead to a big pay raise? Yes... but not with the Canadiens. Forced to choose between Price (a package of potential) and Halak (an unexpected provider
of real results) Pierre Gauthier went with the boy who seemed inexplicably christened from day one to be the goalie in Montreal – Carey Price. Halak was shipped to the St. Louis Blues for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. The move, once again, sent a message to
fans that the organization was backing Carey Price all the way.
Catch-22
Pierre Gauthier might not have originally seen the full impact of what he was doing, but in backing Carey Price to this end, unless Price manages to post Vezina-like numbers and lead the Canadiens deep into the playoffs, Gauthier is going to have a goaltending
controversy on his hands for the full season regardless of what Halak does in St. Louis, or what kind of numbers highly touted prospect Lars Eller puts up in Montreal.
Montreal fans won't care if Halak does poorly and falls out of favor in St. Louis. If Lars Eller scores fifty goals, no one will ever remember that it was Halak that made way for him. But with every weak effort that sneaks past his stick side, Carey Price
will be scrutinized because the fans of the Montreal Canadiens expect results and with such strong backing from their front office, Price is where they expect to get their results from. One tough outing, one bad bounce even, and should Carey Price find himself
on the bench, Montreal fans will be screaming for the unproven goalie to be shipped and screaming for the head of Pierre Gauthier for letting Halak go.
Someone is not getting the message
Understanding the position that Carey Price and Pierre Gauthier now find themselves in, one feels at liberty to criticize Carey Price's remarks after his first pre-season appearance. Calm down? It's just pre-season? It seems clear that Carey Price has not
got the message from fans of just what is at stake. Carey Price seems to have failed to realize what a ringing endorsement, like the one he has received from an organization that is always in the NHL spotlight like the Montreal Canadiens, really means. After
what has gone on over the past season, and during the summer, the fans of the Montreal Canadiens, the ones who haven't yet offered Price that same ringing endorsement, are desperately crying for some sort of proof that it was worth it. Proof is going to have
to come in the form of saves, and wins, and fast. Anything less will be unacceptable.
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