tomh009

Certainly, a no. 5 draft choice should have far more potential than a no. 271 -- everything else being equal. However, the minor leagues are littered with first-round picks who didn't live up to their potential. Even first overall is far from being a guaranteed franchise player. At draft time, scouts are trying to judge the future potential of an 18-year-old kid, and that is not an exact science. Six years after Halak was drafted, and four years after Price, is it still as clear a difference as it was? Might Halak not have turned out as well, or better, than some first-rounders from that year? Take a look at the top 10 from that year? 1. Marc-Andre Fleury 2. Eric Staal 3. Nathan Horton 4. Nikolai Zherdev 5. Thomas Vanek 6. Milan Michalek 7. Ryan Suter 8. Braydon Coburn 9. Dion Phaneuf 10. Andrei Kostitsyn Hmmm ...

I agree ... Halak should effectively be playing as the #1 for now. When he needs rest, or goes cold, Price will get a chance to show that he has his game together again. And if he does, that's when you make the change.

Yeah, he's not Roy, or Dryden, or Plante. At least not yet. He's young, and he's got talent, but he hasn't yet proven himself to be a star. If we're lucky, we might see him begin to shine in the playoffs, or else next season, but in the meantime Halak's no chump, either.

It's the bandwagon effect. Similarly, there were a lot of people on these forums in the fall, suggesting that Price was the future of the franchise, and Bob should trade Halak. I was crossing my fingers that he wouldn't, as a pair of good young goalies is a much safer bet than betting the farm on a single one. And at this point, with Halak dragging us out of the slump, I sure am happy with Bob's decision.

Maybe. Not many bright spots in this game, other than maybe the Tanguay-Koivu SH effort (which maybe, maybe could have been a penalty call anyway, at least if you believe HNC!).

Another 19 shots on Price in the second ... ugh. And that's with us being on PP for much of the period.

Oooooh, we got a shot on goal!

He might have or might not have pushed Schenn's skate, I couldn't tell for sure on the replay. For sure he left himself open to a penalty. But even a bad call or two doesn't come close to explaining this stinker of a period. The ones that deserve most of the blame are wearing white sweaters, not striped ones.

Outshot 13-3 ... ugh.

At least no one can accuse them of taking smart penalties tonight.

It shows as 1-0 for me? Which page are you looking at? :?-

And once the PK was over, they gave the Leafs a breakaway ... sigh.

Don't underestimate Halak ... I think he'll put up a good fight for the #1 spot with Price yet.

Not pretty, but a great effort by by both Koivu and Kostitsyn ...

That's really it. He only had three AHL points last year, down from 18 the year before, but that's all we know. Did he not get the icetime? Was he not playing well? Was he no longer on the PP? Something else? As Simonus says, we need to wait for the training camp to start to see what his potential really is. Still, with Locke not likely to make the team in the future, this looks like a positive move.

Likely a backup ... but both Price and Halak are still in the "potential" category -- Price, too, still has to prove that he can fulfill all the expectations that have been placed on him. Hopefully the two will spur each other to better performances yet. May the best goalie win.

So we're paying a total of $1.6M for the Price-Halak tandem. Chicago is paying $12.3M for Khabibulin and Huet. And I'd rather have our two young kids in goal. This is bloody impressive!

What a bargain! Wow ...

I don't know that I agree about Huselius being overrated, but Columbus signed him yesterday, so it's a moot point in any case! And, yes, I, too, would be happy to start the season with the current crew (plus a signed contract with Halak). We might even have some cap room come trade deadline ...

She's Finnish, she should be able to cope with it!

I wonder whether Gainey shouldn't make (another?) attempt at talking to Selanne. His skills are still there, the chemistry with Koivu is there, and the Ducks have only $1M or so of cap space left. Playing with Koivu and the opportunity to challenge for another Cup could give him pause ... and maybe even get him to seriously consider joining the Habs.

Damn. Now we're competing with the $10M Canucks for Sundin ...

I think Halak has every chance to steal the job, if he plays well enough. And if he does, there is no point paying for a veteran backup (who will not be a top goalie anyway) -- let's spend that cap room elsewhere instead.

It'll be a hard fight for the #1 goalie position next fall, I think ...

Basically it comes down to this: If you start Price and he has a bad game you have to go to Halak, but it may be too late to win the series. If you start Halak and he has a bad game you have to go back to Price, but it may be too late to win the series. So you really have to go with the goalie that has the best chance of winning the next game if we still want to get somewhere in these playoffs.