Jaroslav Halak's mask honor's Pavol Demitra

s/t to In Goal Magazine. St Louis Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak's mask will honor the memory of his former Slovakian teammate Pavol Demitra who was killed last week when his KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team flight crashed after take off.

Related articles

• Blues playoff chances will hinge on Jaroslav Halak (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• Thousands attend Demitra memorial (canada.com)
• Thousands attend Pavol Demitra memorial (canada.com)
• Slovakia mourns Russia plane crash victim (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• R.I.P. Pavol Demitra (adrianatalkstoyou.wordpress.com)

Jaroslav Halak scores on himself

Check this out, Halak scores on himself, I am not sure I have ever seen this move. So far this season Halak has been tough to beat, Halak sports a 2.12 GAA and a .918 save percentage with an 8-3-0 record.

Les Habitants De Montreal trade top goalie keep the sieve

Yesterday Redwing77 posted a story about the Habs trading their top goalie Jaroslav Halak to the St Louis Blues. It's a head scratcher, if you ask me, it doesn't make sense at all. I am sure most Bruins fans like myself are happy that they won't have to face Halak on a regular basis because frankly Carey Price is an unimpressive and horrible goalie.

Carey Price's representative almost dropped the phone when we spoke. Jaroslav Halak is stunned that Montreal never contacted him after the season, meaning the Blues didn't even try to talk contract before making the deal. Tom Laidlaw, who represents Chris Mason, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "They gave us every indication they wanted Chris to be the guy." [CBC.CA]

Seriously they never even contacted him, that's a slap in the face. Halak was the reason the Habs went as far as they did. Jaroslav Halak was impressive during the Stanley Cup playoffs posting a record 9-9 2.55 and .923 save percentage, without Halak the Habs would have been done in the first round of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.

If Carey Price doesn't play well this season the General Manager Pierre Gauthier can expect to feel the ire of the rabid Habs fans if Carey Price ends up imploding.

One reporter interrupted a Gauthier response on the conference call to say his wife didn't understand how the team could trade a goalie that got them to the playoffs. It was rude and annoying, but illustrates the sentiment.

Halak is the people's choice in La Belle Province. Price has zero room for error and I'm pretty sure he's aware of that.

Obviously, this is the biggest risk. So many people who've seen Price play at the world juniors and in the AHL believe he will still be a great NHL goaltender. They believe in his size, his athleticism, his skill. He showed a lot off-ice this season, too, getting into the best shape of his career, and being helpful to Halak as a backup.

The key question is: How will he handle the first boos? We all know they're coming. Price hasn't reacted well to that in the past. Patrick Roy even pulled him aside and told him, "Hey, I had to go through it, too, so don't let it bother you."

I'm one of those who are not convinced the best place for Price is Montreal. I think it would be better if he started over somewhere else. But that option is gone now, and he's being thrown into the ocean without a lifejacket. The danger in Gauthier saying you need two goalies now - as he did on the conference call - is that it will take one bad goal for the fans to start screaming for the other guy.

Great goalies, and great players, overcome that. It is Price's time to show his greatness. [CBC.CA]

In Irrelevent but Unforseen NHL News... (RW77)

Montreal Goaltender Jaroslav Halak was traded today to the St. Louis Blues for their top prospect and Ian Shultz.

Yup. You heard that right. Halak is out of Montreal. That means perennial ubersieve disguised as Roy-like savior Carey Price is now assured the #1 goaltending position (barring something stupid like signing Nabokov or somesuch).

Former Habs GM Gainey is now laughing his backside off.

It is true that Halak was unhappy to start last season. He wanted more playing time and thought he deserved it compared to Price's play. Despite the fact that such a demand comes across as whiny and self-centered, Halak was right. And he proved it.

Well, the Habs will not make the playoffs next season unless something truly remarkable happens. Their top scorer is a free agent (Plekanec) and their best goaltender now in St. Louis.

In other news, this surely means the end of Chris Mason's tenure in St. Louis. Perhaps Montreal will sign him to back up Price?

Obviously, the winner here is St. Louis. The loser is the Habs. Eller is almost Plekanec-like in potential and Schultz is a huge question mark. Apparently he was a 2008 3rd round pick of the Blues and his junior eligibility is up. So, in essence, The Habs give up one of the best young goaltenders in the league for an NHL ready forward and a throwaway. With last year's performance.... I think the Habs could have gotten more for Halak than they did.

On the other hand, only a retard would trade Halak... oh... sorry Habs fans.

Ovechkin and the Capitals get Halaked

I think we can put the Carey Price argument to bed it's no mystery who the staring goalie in Montreal is and Redwing77 pretty much covered it in the last blog post. Oh darn the Capitals aren’t unbeatable, I guess I am not very good at predictions.

The goaltender for the Montreal Canadians Jaroslav Halak was unbelievable in their first round series against the Washington Capitals. Against an onslaught of shots Halak was simply amazing and didn’t give an inch. If you didn’t watch any of the game and asked the question; how good was Halak? Jaroslav Halak stood on his head stopping 41 of 42 shots tonight and 131 of 134 shots in the last three games. The Canadians will now face Gary Bettman’s favorite team the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Bruins will face the Broad Street Bullies from Philadelphia in their second round series. The Bruins went 2-1 against Philly in the regular season.

Montreal made history tonight by winning the series 4-3 and becoming the first eight seed to erase a 3-1 deficit against a No. 1 seed to win the series.

Bruins schedule against the Flyers

Game 1: Saturday, May 1 at TD Garden at 12:30 p.m.
Game 2: Monday, May 3 at TD Garden at 7 p.m.
Game 3: Wednesday, May 5 at Philadelphia at 7 p.m.
Game 4: Friday, May 7 at Philadelphia at 7 p.m.
Game 5*: Monday, May 10 at TD Garden at 7 p.m.
Game 6*: Wednesday, May 12 at Philadelphia at TBD
Game 7*: Friday, May 14 at TD Garden at 7 p.m.