Products You May Like
Bob Gainey wanted the Montreal Canadiens to celebrate their centennial in style and before the 2009-2010 season, he put the team through a complete overhaul. Captain Saku Koivu was a goner, so was Alex Kovalev and in came Brian Gionta, Mike Cammalleri and Scott Gomez.
The Halak Spring
It took some time for the lineup cooked up by Gainey to take and it came quite close to missing the playoffs. However, once they got in, they became giant killers. Matched-up against the regular season champions Washington Capitals, the Canadiens fell down 3-1 in the series but came roaring back to dispatch Ovechkin and co. in seven games on the back of a brilliant performance from Jaroslav Halak in the final three games.
View the original article to see embedded media.
The Canadiens then took on Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Playing the underdog role for the second series in a row, Montreal won the series in seven games. After his fantastic display against Washington, Halak started every game and was amazing throughout (aside from game 1 in which Carey Price had to step in towards the end).
Montreal then lost in five games to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference final, Halak turning out to be human afterwards. Thus ended what had became known as “the Halak Spring” in Montreal, but not without the Slovak goaltender becoming a fan favourite. Meme of roadside stops in Montreal reading “Halak” and Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance was rewritten and turned into a Habs rally song, the City had Halak fever and it had it bad.
Something Had to Give
The debate over who should be the Canadiens’ number one goaltender had already started before the playoffs, but after Halak had captured the heart and minds of so many fans, an official decision had to be made.
While Halak’s performance was impressive, having goalie 1 and 1A wasn’t possible in Montreal, as there had to be a true number one. For the organization, no matter how the playoffs went, Carey Price was always going to be the guy.
© Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
It’s understandable really as he had the pedigree as a fifth-overall pick in 2005. He was bigger at six-foot-three and 217 pounds and had won everywhere he had been. Meanwhile Halak was a ninth round long-shot at the 2003 draft, two years older and with a much smaller frame, at five-foot-eleven and 189 pounds.
The trade
Around mid-day on June 17, 2010, the trade was announced. The RFA Slovakian goaltender was shipped out of town. GM Pierre Gauthier had at least decided to send him out west and he was off to the St. Louis Blues for former first round and thirteenth-overall pick center Lars Eller and right winger Ian Schultz.
The fandom was immediately thrown into turmoil. Who was that Danish player? Was he any good? How dare Gauthier trade the man who got them so deep in the playoffs!
The Aftermath
A little over two weeks after the trade, the Blues signed Halak to a new four-year deal with a $3,750,000 AAV. Days before the trade deadline, before his contract was set to expire, the Blues traded the netminder to the Buffalo Sabres for Ryan Miller and Steve Ott. He wouldn’t stay long in Buffalo however as he was traded to the Washington Capitals on trade deadline day for Michal Neuvirth and Rostislav Klesla. At the start of May 2014, the Caps traded him to the New York Islanders as Halak did not intend to sign a new deal with them.
Even with all those bounces around in a short span, Halak still had a very good NHL career, playing 581 games with a 295-189-69 record, a 2.50 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage. Meanwhile, Price, the chosen one in Montreal, played 712 games with a 361-261-79 record, a 2.51 GAA and a .917 SP. If fans were up in arms following the trade, they soon calmed down when the B.C. native lived-up to expectations.
As for the return the Canadiens got for Halak, it wasn’t as bad as initially feared. Granted, Ian Schultz never played a single game in the NHL and ended his career in the British Elite League (the name being the only elite thing about that circuit, having lived in London and being British, I can say that) in 2016-2017.
Meanwhile, Lars Eller played 435 games in Montreal across six seasons putting up 154 points and proving himself to be an efficient two-way center. However, many failed to appreciate him for what he was, believing the Halak trade should have netted them a much more productive player.
Marc Bergevin traded Eller to the Capitals for two second-round picks (at the 2017 and 2018 drafts) on June 24, 2016, five days before he flipped a certain blueliner to the Nashville Predators for another defenseman. Those were busy days in Montreal.
The Dane would spend the next seven seasons in Washington, scoring the Stanley Cup winning goal for Barry Trotz’s men against the Vegas Golden Knights. Had it not been for Eller, the Knights might just have won Lord Stanley’s mug in their first year of existence… who would have thought.
While Many Canadiens fans were ready to label this as one of the worst trades in team history, it aged very well… unlike another Montreal goaltender trade the city remembers all too well.
Related: Canadiens: Tremblay Lit the Match, Houle Was Taken for a Ride…
Related
Canadiens: Trade Him He Has a Bad Knee
Canadiens: Let’s Go All in for the Centennial
Canadiens: It Worked Once, Let’s Bring Him Back
Canadiens: Houle Was Shark Bait
Canadiens: Taxi for Being Too Mouthy
Canadiens: The Trade That Bit Back
Canadiens: Out With the Young, In With the Old
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains
Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens’ page for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens