Fat Tony

Of course you can bench a 6 million dollar player, in fact Theo rode the pines early this year and for long stretches last year. This is a discussion going nowhere, many Habs fans hate Theo for "letting us down" and will never get over it. I kind of chuckle at that line of thought, the guy intentionally melted down his career for 2 years just to show us fans who's boss.

How do you figure a guy who started 10 games in a row while a healthy Budaj sat on the bench is a backup? Theo has played very well after his slow start due to injury. Budaj has been very average the last couple of months, and was awful in 2 of his 3 starts while Theo was out (Theo was back with a 3-1 win and first star on Wednesday) . Barring a big trade or the emergence of one of their minor league goalie, the Avs would be very wise to pitch an offer to Theo. And no, he may never see 6 mil a year again, but with his stats this year it's equally unlikely he'll be at the league minimum. I loved him as a Habs, felt for him when he fell apart, and am glad he's pulled it together...but he'll NEVER be a Canadien again...even if the team considered it (not a chance), if you were him would you want back?

With 12 playoff games under his belt and only 5 wins, Luongo still has a ton to prove, but I believe he will silence any critics before long. Ray Emery, Cam Ward, Giggy were all clutch for one playoff run (if one playoff year qualified you, Lalime & Hedberg would be in there too ), Hasek & Khabibulin, while both clutch performers in the past both are well past their glory years. And while Brodeur is approaching the twilight of his career, he's my choice for the one blue chip clutch playoff performer in the league, but if I'm betting I'd bet Luongo, Turco, Kipper, Nabokov will join him soon (hopefully Price too ;-) . Oh ya, my point Huet is unproven as a clutch playoff performer, YET, but he's in really good company because technically there's only one real long term proven clutch goaltender in the league in my opinion.

Yikes, a rare sign of common sense in the thread Huet has been an EXCELLENT surprise considering he was almost an afterthought in the Bonk trade. Price's POTENTIAL is scary good. Halak's is a great guy to lead Hamilton and a great fall back if anything goes wrong with the above two. Danis is a guy I'd be more than happy to see in the Habs net if the need occurs. I'm just not sure where the controversy is. The only issue is that NONE of our goalies has proven themselves in an NHL playoff. I have faith one will however. With a nod to brboo, I'm pretty damn happy with the way this season has gone and can't find much to complain about.

LOL A) Price would not get swept B) How much worse would 0-4 stack up against Huet's steller 1-4 career playoff record. Price and Huet have something in common, BOTH are unproven in the playoffs. SO WHAT, so were Roy & Dryden

This is going to be a short discussion. Price is the BACKUP GOALIE. As such he has been a very good backup and is learning the starters job. Go ahead and search the stats for a BACKUP GOALIE with better numbers, there wont be many. Sheesh, some Habs fans baffle me with their blind loyalties. Why hate Price because you love Huet? Watch Huet & Price or Huet & Halak in the pre game warmup, they cheer each other on and actually like each other. Why would a fan feel a need to only have room for one of them on the team?!?! Oh and by the way...Price IS NOT, repeat IS NOT a starting goalie in his prime. He's a rookie who just finished high school and still has plenty of learning to do in the NHL. If all goes well, in a year or 2 you'll be praising him and keeping his backup down :eyes:

You see I just don't buy that Price was any where near as shaky as some on here think he was. 19 games, 9 wins, 7 losses, 3 OTL is pretty damn good for a 20 year old rookie. In fact only a handful of NHL goalies can even claim a start that good at that young an age (he was eligible to play Midget 3 years ago after all) . Price beat the Leafs pretty much single handed 3 times (and you know he's in their heads) and beat Pittsburgh twice. A young goalie turns in 9 or 10 really good performances and 3 or 4 stinkers out of 19 and some people are all over him. I just don't get it. Personally I support ALL of our goalies and you know what, they seem to cheer on each other and support each other very nicely too.

To me, Gainey will not risk another Theodore fiasco by over paying Huet for too long a term. I say 4-4.5 million over one or two years is the most Huet gets,otherwise he gets moved. The one scenario I can see is 5 mil for one year, but I have to be honest...as good as Huey has been, I just don't think he's the guy to lead us to the promised land, sorry, but I've never thought he was. Anyway, Halak just got demoted to Hamilton according to RDS and although it hasn't been announced you can bet Price is already at the airport...so let the controversy begin anew

Could Price's "demotion" be over? RDS is reporting that Halak has been sent down to Hamilton. So if this is true, either Price will be up for the next game or Danis...my money is on Pricey ;-) http://www.habsinsideout.com/main/3520

This is a valid point. I'm not saying that Huet is blowing games, he's just not doing what the top elite goalies do...not allowing the next goal at all costs when the game is on the line. I'm not even suggesting that the goals are bad goals, but the Luongo's, Kipper's and in their day Roy, Brodeur & Hasek just didn't allow these goals often. The point I was trying to make was explained beautifully by KoZed...Huet is not nor has he ever been an elite first group goaltender. Yet his save % may convince him and some others that he is. Therefore he's going to expect Brodeur/Luongo/Kipper money and sadly he's just not worth it. Save percentage is a frustrating stat, because it doesn't tell the whole story. Save %, wins, games, played, durability, clutch performance, confidence, the teams confidence in the goalie are the whole package...save % is just a piece of the puzzle and too many people evaluate goalies on that one lonely stat. Not meaning to slag the guy at all, I really like him. Just calling it as I see it.

Huet has great stats for sure and has played some great games for us. But in my opinion, he's really not great in the crunch when it's all on the line. Like has been mentioned above, I know with a one goal lead, 2 minutes to go, and Huet in net...we're probably going to O/T. And if we go to shootout we're screwed he's one of the worst shootout goalies this year and has a career shootout save % of .515, that's just brutal. That being said, I still think a 1 year extension with a moderate raise is in order, we still need Huet until Price and or Halak are ready for prime time. Huet's inability (so far) to play the amount of games required of an elite starter and his almost guaranteed 20 games of injury time would make me VERY leery of signing him for big bucks/long term. Unfortunately, if he gets to the off season as an RFA, some pinhead GM will likely offer him 6 or 7 mil based on him having a better save % than all but 5 goalies in the league. I think the Habs tying up much more than 4 mil for 1 season in him would be a big mistake however.

Look at it this way, Price has done everything he has been told with a positive attitude. His potential is down right scary. He was a 1st round draft pick. Halak is a 9th round pick who has allegedly asked to be moved if he's not played, a 22 year old making these demands! Halak has played a whopping 40 minutes in the near month since being called up. I seriously doubt anyone in the Habs organization has EVER put Halak above Price on the depth chart. Who knows what the future will bring however. To me Price just needs a little more consistency and he'll be fine. I've been guaranteeing my Leaf fan buddy's for 3 weeks that Price will be called back up just in time to stone the Leafs again...let's hope I was right all along

Over his career, he's about .88 points per game (ballpark) and worse in the playoffs. perhaps slightly above average was too harsh, but so is retiring his number in my books...so let's call it somewhere in between I like the guy, I admire some of his leadership skills, but he's just not sweater retiring material in my eyes. Having said that, if he retires as a habs, retiring his sweater is virtually a lock and I still totally disagree with it, but cest la vie. You're right, Saku would be a god in New York, but they've had way more brutal teams than good ones over the years. Habs fans expect MUCH more.

Koivu is a slightly above average player, an average captain and a sub average in the Habs legend category IMHO. Longevity without results is meaningless. Beating cancer and coming back from a brutal eye injury shows tons of character and perseverance...but has little or nothing to do when it comes to retiring a number. Hoist a few cups, and rack up a 50 goal season or two and we can talk. I'd retire J.C. Tremblay's #3, Toe Blake's #6, Ken Reardon #17, Fergy/Shutt #22, Jacques Lemaire #25, Roy's #33, heck, maybe even Mats Naslund's #26 before I'd even consider thinking about retiring an overall average player like Koivu's number.

I fully agree with you. I won't say that Huet is not an elite keeper, but I will say that he's never shown it to me over the long term and I thought he was very weak in his lone NHL playoffs. One good thing is, barring another injury he's well on his way to breaking his 42 game per season ceiling. If he can get 50-60 games in while playing well and staying healthy, it'll go a long way towards removing his 'fragile goalie" label.

Agreed, in all my years of playing recreational goal I'd rather have won 10-9 than lost 1-0 in overtime. Shutouts and save% and GAA are nice perks, but wins are absolutely what it's all about. I'd rather have a goalie who can dig down and win ugly than one who has a pretty save percentage and a losing record any day.

LOL, too funny but sadly probably true. Too many people are panicing that Price isn't their saviour...yet. What he's going through now is just part of his learning process. Dealing with adversity will just be another one of the tools in his arsenal.

I don't see what the fuss is and I don't get the whole goaltending controversy. We have a requirement of 2 starters and 2 backups between the Habs & Bulldogs. My opinion is that Huet will not be part of the eqaution. He's at that age where he'll be looking for a big contract and the Habs would be silly to tie up big bucks for a goalie who's never played more than 42 games in an NHL season and struggles after 4 or 5 consecutive starts. Huet is an amazing short stretch goalie, but my personal opinion is he'll never be an elite starter. Price, while struggling has shown some great talent in the AHL and flashes of brilliance early on in his first NHL season. Halak has also been brilliant in the AHL and also has shown signs of NHL brilliance. Danis too has been excellent in the AHL and I thought he looked pretty good in some of his 6 NHL starts too. So the way I see it, the goaltending controversy may be that we're an AHL backup short after the trade deadline Of course Locaise or Desjardin could fill that roll. The starters job is stil Huet's for sure, but will that be the case at the end of the season? We have 4 guys who can play goal in the NHL in short stretches, one may have to go and I believe it will be the current most valuable but worst long term value, Huet. Price is still my bet as the future number 1 for years to come, but if he falters Halak is a great insurance policy. I wouldn't unload Halak, the return would not be worth losing him in my opinion.

Price's last 2 games in the NHL and in the AHL are a bit disturbing to say the least, but he's a much better goalie than those games indicate. It's not unusual for a goalie to backslide and lose his confidence at some point in his development, I have to believe that's what's going on with Price, but I hope the poor kid pulls it together real soon and comes back to the Habs and wows all the people who have badmouthed him.

Well, by rights...if they lost to the statistically worst team (Los Angeles is 30th of 30 teams), I guess you are correct, that would make the Leafs the worst team

Gawd tomorrow will be a great last day at work before vacation. Habs win 5-2 and Loafs lose 5-2 to the worst team in the league! Sometimes it is great to be a Habs fan to living in Leaf Nation...not too many car antennae flags this year

Yep, that's the way I remember it. In fact many players were very heavy smokers back in the 70's and before. Remembering back that smoking wasn't a crime back then and was actually completely socially acceptable. Wow, how a couple of decades has changed that way of thinking

Yep, sounds like Price is down on the farm with the right attitude. I can't help but wonder if Melanson's system is part of his problem? He sure avoided the question would you rather be up in Montreal with Melansons coaching.

Price stood on his head last year winning the Calder. He's been good for the Habs this year too with the exception of his last 2 games. Lets not forget that without Price, we'd likely have zero wins against the dreaded Leafs this year. He had Leaf players and fans tearing their hair out in the two wins he got over them this year. For a 20 year old rookie I think Price has shown signs of brilliance this season with a couple of moments of weakness, not too shabby. I'm kind of chuckling over the significance a couple of posters are placing on shutouts, W's are what matter. Oh and by the way, Huet only has 1 shutout this year and 2 last year Carey Price has gained us 21 of our 50 points and posted a .907 Save% in his first 19 NHL games. Someone explain to me how any of this is bad. Carey will be back and refocused in a few weeks. Sending him down to the A is mostly for his own good.