In a move that caught everyone by surprise, the St. Louis Blues on Thursday snagged goaltender Jaroslav Halak from the Montreal Canadiens for a pair of prospects: Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.
Coming off a memorable performance to lead Montreal to the Eastern Conference Finals, Halak will become a restricted free agent come July 1. The general belief around the hockey world thought the Canadiens would re-sign the Slovakian netminder after how he played in the second half of the season.
Rather than going with what got you four wins from reaching the Stanley Cup Finals, Montreal general manager Pierre Gauthier decided to appoint 22-year-old Carey Price as the Habs' No. 1 goalie this coming seasons. Price is also a restricted free agent.
For the Canadiens, the trade comes at a confusing time. A week away from the NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles, Gauthier shipped Halak to St. Louis for a package of prospects that seems to be well under his market value.
You can’t tell me Montreal couldn’t get better deals for Halak or Price as they waited until draft night?
According to Andy Strickland, the Canadiens had b ...
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Article written by Tom Dougherty
Blues Clues: St. Louis Steals Jaroslav Halak from Montreal
June 18th, 2010 by Tom Dougherty Leave a reply »
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