Halak on the Block

Montreal Canadiens goaltender, Jaroslav Halak is being actively shopped around by the club. The Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues are supposedly among teams interested in the goalie's services. Gainey's price on Halak? A top six forward.

I believe that Halak is a definite bargaining chip, he has a budget salary, decent record and good save percentage, but is not worth anything near a T6 forward. It cannot be a bad contract due to the cap room they have left, thus a T6 forward is nearly out the question. Personally I'm quite surprised that Gainey did not move Halak last year, even with Price in the funk he was in. Price has played decent this season, he is 9-10-2 over 21 games this season with a 2.69 GAA and a .913 save percentage. He's still got a ways to go before he gets to that .920 save percentage he maintained in his rookie year, but it is also a far cry from the .905 he averaged last season.

Halak is 6-4-0 in 10 games this year with a .907 save percentage and 2.80 GAA. At 24 years of age, he is no doubt in search of starting role, having backed up Montreal starter Carey Price for the last two seasons and then again this year. I believe that you may see a team like Edmonton show interest, with Khabibulin out and maybe even the Philadelphia Flyers with Emery hitting the bench for the next month and a half. Keep in mind a trade will only get done if Gainey drops his price, because a T6 forward for a backup goalie that hasn't played more than 10 games this season with mediocre numbers is not going to cut it. I like Halak as a goalie, but I do not see him getting anywhere in Montreal, which is why he would be better off to head to somewhere with a goaltending issue where he would get time to play. This way he could showcase his stuff and sign a contract with someone in the off-season as he is due to be an RFA at the end of the season.

It is all up to Gainey to get the ball rolling though, because as of right now, he is going to be hard pressed to get his asking price for Halak.