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Habs acquire Dustin Tokarski


johnnyhasbeen

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I remember when we drafted Price, and the 'expert' reaction was that this was a crazy pick because we were set in goal for years with Hart Trophy winner Jose Theodore.

While I have gigantic respect for Price and have zero worries of his melting down in the fashion of No Way Jose, the lesson is that it's wise to have talent within your system at all positions. I have no problem with the Habs getting some young goalies in the pipe. It certainly would be strange to spend a high pick on one, though - that much I'll concede.

As for Budaj, the anxiety over him had to do with his shaky early performance. Two good games later, we're now hearing about how he is the perfect backup. I incline more to the latter position than the former. He's an average goalie, apparently beloved in the room, and cheap; and that' s just what you want in a backup.

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There really isn't a bad situation that exists when it comes to if Montreal drafts a great goalie.

It's all about how the team handles the situation.

Take Boston for example. Boston trades for Rask. Thomas is the starter. Rask comes in when Thomas goes down to injury but that doesn't mean Rask takes over the role of starter. In the past two seasons, Rask still played the backup role when he performed well in a 45 game platoon. Suddenly, Thomas goes Libertarian crazy and no longer wants to play in the NHL. Rask is ready to play starter.

Now there's Vancouver. Luongo is the starter, Schneider is starting to prove something. Luongo has a very polarizing Stanley Cup finals (pulled twice but also had two shutouts) but then Alain Vigneault proclaims Schneider as the starter. So now the team is in a situation to trade Luongo. But they get trigger shy and Luongo is still playing this season. Luongo has now established himself as the best goalie for Vancouver but they still have Schenider and now they are expected to trade one of their starter goalies. It was a bad way to handle things but a good situation. Luongo proves himself to be one of the best goalies in the NHL while Schneider is still young and well liked.

Then hey, there's Montreal. Price and Halak are platooning, competing for the top spot. Price shows himself as the better season goalie while Halak has a great playoff run. Montreal decides to deal Halak because Price has the better intangibles and they feel simply had a horrible year. There's no controversy in the next season so both goalies can play starter. Price breaks out as one of the best goalies in the NHL. Halak loses his starter role at some point to Brian Elliott (though he'll most definitely have it back when he comes back from injury this year). Montreal gets Lars Eller out of the trade.

So really, if Montreal handled their goalie situation similar to Boston they would have nothing to worry about. Price is the starter. The back-up gets to take some of the weight off of him in back to backs so Price is fresh in the playoffs. In the worry of an injury or Price not signing, they have insurance. Thomas was never afraid of Rask. Price shouldn't be afraid of any young goalie we draft or sign. The idea that Price's play devalues the moment there's a good goalie behind him is ridiculous. If true, we'd have to be careful with him. He would be Ed Belfour. It's about how you handle it.

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I have to say, I'm a little confused by this conversation. Why in the world are we talking about acquiring another younger back up? Budaj is getting the job done, and you know that with Budaj as the back up, there will NEVER be a goalie controversy. Budaj knows he's the back-up and that's the end of that.

If you bring up a younger back-up who still has hopes of becoming a number 1, then you're creating a recipe for a disaster. What if Carey has a couple of bad games? Bang! Goalie controversy! Haven't we had enough goalie controversies with this team?

Carey is gonna be our number 1 for the next decade. There's absolutely no need for the habs to waste a draft pick on a goalie right now. We can look into that 5 years from now when Carey will be 30 years old.

If you draft a goalie today, we are talking about an 18 year old project.

That means 2 years of junior hockey

2 more years in the AHL

so four years before he even becomes a backup. Then its gonna probably take at least a season or more of being a backup before he can legit challenge for the #1 spot.

So you are looking 5 years down the road here.

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I also don't buy the theory that Price can't play well with a good backup behind him. I don't think his ego is that fragile.

The Price we saw during the Halak years was a young goalie going through typical growing pains during those years, nothing more.

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I agree with having a backup that doesn't make me nrevous if Carey shoulf get hurt.

J.S Giguere, as I mentioned in my initial post, is an example of the kind of guy I'd like to see.

A vet, no illusions of being a # 1 anymore, unless circumstances call for it temporarily, tail end of career, still trustworthy, etc.

Just a pipedream.

Budaj scares me if Carey get hurt. I agree with the previous posters that we don't need to coddle Price w/ suspected competition.

The Thomas/Rask comp. was excellent, I think.

I consider Budaj as a kind of tweener. Even his wins make me nervous.

If it weren't for a hit crossbar, & him swatting away that one that trickled in behind him before it crossed the goal line last time...

And I know that stuff happens to other goalies, but if we need someone for more than a few games here & there in the future,

he's gonna' need a lot of luck, & the team in front of him can make no mistakes, as what Carey can make up for, he can't.

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I'm well aware that if we were to draft a goalie this year, he wouldn't be a real threat to Price for 5-6 years. I guess what I'm saying is that the 2013 draft is supposed to be one of the best drafts (comparable to the 2003 draft) and i don't think we should spend a high draft pick on something that we won't need for the foreseeable future. If you wanna use a 5th, 6th or 7th round pick on a goalie, go ahead, but don't use a high pick.

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I also don't buy the theory that Price can't play well with a good backup behind him. I don't think his ego is that fragile.

The Price we saw during the Halak years was a young goalie going through typical growing pains during those years, nothing more.

I disagree with the first part but I hope I am wrong, (should the Habs ever get an excellent back up)

I just believe Price does not like to play an in environment where his job as the starter could be put in question.

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I'm well aware that if we were to draft a goalie this year, he wouldn't be a real threat to Price for 5-6 years. I guess what I'm saying is that the 2013 draft is supposed to be one of the best drafts (comparable to the 2003 draft) and i don't think we should spend a high draft pick on something that we won't need for the foreseeable future. If you wanna use a 5th, 6th or 7th round pick on a goalie, go ahead, but don't use a high pick.

Not comparable to 2003 at all.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/49838-2013-NHL-draft-lacks-depth-of-talent.html

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Yeah, this draft is getting overrated in certain parts of the Internet. I think teams will find talent in the Top 100 but otherwise bust out on the lower picks. There are a lot of "Not dominant with impressive tangibles" players in the Top 100. A lot of guys like Kerby Rychel who is putting up good numbers and I'm sure on paper looks like a power forward in the making but he isn't going to bring it in the NHL by my estimation.

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Houle was ultimately even more of a franchise-destroying clown than Mario, .

And yet, I always had the impression that, in the last months, he was finally figuring out the job. Even if he was, though, he'll never get hired again based on what he did to a contending team.

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Houle was a committed soldier to Montreal. I'm sure he knew that he was just Ronald Corey's pawn and wasn't gonna try to pull trades from under his nose (like Savard). Houle broke down and cried when he lost his job and didn't stray from the team. He's still a part of the organization.

Tremblay moved onto different teams.

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Chicago Blackhawks traded Jeff Hackett, Eric Weinrich, Alain Nasreddine and 4th round selection (previsoulsy acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning - Chris Dyment) in 1999 to the Montreal Canadiens for Jocelyn Thibault, Dave Manson and Brad Brown.

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I couldn't help but notice that Desjardins seems to have picked up his game with a couple shutouts with Syracuse, Has won all 4 games he started with a GAA of 1.00

Change of scenery did him good

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I couldn't help but notice that Desjardins seems to have picked up his game with a couple shutouts with Syracuse, Has won all 4 games he started with a GAA of 1.00

Change of scenery did him good

I'd say a good chunk of that comes from the fact he was traded by (at the time) the worst team in the AHL to the best team in the AHL. Good for him (and we all knew he could be better than what he had done with Hamilton), he'll need a good end to the year to get another decent money deal as an AHL starter.

Also, for those of you who don't follow the Hamilton GDT's (you should, by the way), Tokarski is off to a pretty strong start with Hamilton. In 4 games, he has a 1.78 GAA and a .939 SV% (2-2 record but again, the Bulldogs aren't that good).

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I'd say a good chunk of that comes from the fact he was traded by (at the time) the worst team in the AHL to the best team in the AHL. Good for him (and we all knew he could be better than what he had done with Hamilton), he'll need a good end to the year to get another decent money deal as an AHL starter.

Also, for those of you who don't follow the Hamilton GDT's (you should, by the way), Tokarski is off to a pretty strong start with Hamilton. In 4 games, he has a 1.78 GAA and a .939 SV% (2-2 record but again, the Bulldogs aren't that good).

Thats good to hear thanks!

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