According to McKenzie, Sharks were in on Halak
June 17th, 2010, 1:39 pm
The Montreal Canadiens traded their playoff hero and perhaps the best Cinderella Story of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Jaroslav Halak, to the St. Louis Blues today for two prospects, Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. According to Bob McKenzie’s twitter feed (I can’t believe I just cited Twitter as a source) he said that the Sharks, Tampa Bay and Philly were “pitching hard” for Halak and Montreal decided to go with St. Louis’ offer.
According to Hockey’s Future Spring Prospect report, The Canadiens got the Blues #2 overall prospect in Lars Eller (a projected top six forward with skill) and their #17 prospect in the WHL player Shultz (tough guy with upside). If we assume that Montreal was asking for two prospects and not roster players, wouldn’t this hypothetically equate to Montreal wanting Logan Couture and possibly junior player and tough defensemen, Taylor Doherty? If that was indeed the price, and again I’m just pulling that squarely out of my rear, would you have made this deal? Comment below and vote in the poll to the right and even offer what you think the trade price for the Sharks might have been.
So, what does this mean for our goalie situation and Nabby’s future? Well, it means that if McKenzie’s sources are correct, that Nabby isn’t the teams first choice going forward in net for next season if they tried to acquired Halak. So could this be a sign that Nabby is a goner for sure? Not necessarily. Nabby could be Plan B now that DW couldn’t pull off another magic trick OR they could continue to search outside the organization for the answer in net.
I do know this. The offseason just officially began.
Loading ...
I was actually hoping to get Carey Price this off season but so much for that notion. Looks like Nabby may be back but let’s hope DW thinks of something else instead.
Stress level has jumped a half notch. Possibly to be at a level 10 by August.
Goaltenders are too much like bullpens in baseball… incredibly important but too unpredictable to invest money in unless you got the very very best.
I don’t think Halak nor Nabby fit that criteria. I’m kinda glad this shut the door on the Halak/Price rumors for the Sharks.
Good analogy. And that goes double for a team with only an average defense, which I think the Sharks have now that Blake is gone. Boyle, Murray, Vlasic, Demers, Huskins, and Joslin/Moore/Wallin/Leach isn’t going to strike fear into the hearts of anybody.
If trading Couture and Doherty for Halak meant that we would have Halak signed to a reasonable contract then i might consider it; but trading Couture and Doherty just for the RFA rights to Halak is just not a good idea. Who knows how much Halaks agent is going to ask for, probably something over 4 million.
That seems way too cheap, but then again I didn’t believe in the Habs’ reconstruction a year ago.
Still, I’ve been hearing a ton of chatter about the Sharks and nearly *every* available netminder.
These next few weeks should be exciting.
What really makes me curious is what Halak is asking for and if its high you would think he is probably using a KHL offer as leverage to get that higher contract. My father and brother are huge Hab fans and they are pissed because they don’t think that Price is going to shine especially now that he has the added pressure of needing to really live up to what Habs management is saying this guys upside is. Really if Price falters even a little with expectations very high (although probably not justified) those fans are going to run him out of town.
I will say this though, the west just got that much tougher. Although the price may not have been right its nice to see that after the the sharkspage rumor that DW is in fact at least looking at other goaltenders.