“IN BOB WE TRUST”

Montreal fans, for the most part, cleave to these words, for you sir, Bob Gainey, represent all that is righteous and pure about Les Canadiens.  On a mid-70’s team crowded with superstars and game-breakers, you made a name for yourself with what was then considered a rather sublime skill set…and hard work.

Now that you’ve been the GM of the Canadiens for the past half-dozen years, this once-proud franchise appeares to have put itself back-on-track.  You’ve hired the right people, who have made all the right decisions, particularly when it came to carefully re-building the infrastructure of this organization.  Your Habs drafted well, which sets the team up to overcome the ongoing obstacle of attracting top-name free agents to the city.

After a surprising Eastern Conference regular-season title last year, everything slowly has come unravelled this season, and all under the unremitting glare of the overbaked 100th Anniversary celebrations.

There are a number of reasons why Montreal fell to eighth spot this season, and are barely alive in their first-round playoff match with the Boston Bruins, and all are worth closer examination in the rapidly approaching off-season.

But writing as a long-time fan of this team, Bob…I have only one question on this late Saturday night.

What is with your ongoing fascination with goaltender Carey Price?

No doubt about it, the kid has size.  He’s been a success at every other level of hockey, so when you took him 5th overall in the Sidney Crosby entry draft of 2005, us loyal Habs fans didn’t blink an eye, despite some negative things a number of scouts may have said about Price.

Most goaltender take a while to develop, but this is the Montreal Canadiens, not the Atlanta Thrashers.  There’s no place to hide, particularly for a top-rated goaltending prospect. 

Montreal has been a goaltending factory stretching all the way back to Georges Vezina himself.  Just look at some of the names.  George Hainsworth, Bill Durnan, Gerry McNeil, Jacques Plante, Gump Worsley, Ken Dryden, and Patrick Roy.

You can also add the names of Charlie Hodge, Rogie Vachon, Phil Myre, Michel Plasse, Wayne Thomas, Michel Laroque, Denis Herron, Rick Wamsley, Doug Soetart, Brian Hayward, Roland Melanson, Jeff Hackett, Jose Theodore, and Christobal Huet.

The franchise even survived the likes of Richard Sevigney, Steve Penney, Andre Racicot, and the dude who played a couple of minutes when Roy had to use the washroom.

They traded away the likes of Tony Esposito, and Tomas Vokoun, before those guys even had the chance to get real good, because there was no room at the inn for them.

Point being, and Bob, you understand this more than most, the starting goaltender is THEE focal point of the Montreal Canadiens.  More so when the franchise hasn’t had a bona fide 50-goal scorer since Stephane Richer, and has been without a true superstar since the glory days of Guy Lafleur, and baby, that was thirty years ago.

Jaroslav Halak can be a frustrating goaltender to watch, as he’ll follow up a couple of stellar games with a so-so effort.  But here’s the thing.

Halak has stolen, OUTRIGHT STOLEN, a couple of games for the Habs this past season.  A game in Denver comes to mind, when Montreal had no business taking home the two points.

Price is your bonus baby, and as he’s a young man, his day may yet come.

But it is not right now.  Not when the guy doesn’t seem fully awake during play.  Sure, he’ll make a fine save, but then he’ll follow it up five minutes later with what appears to be a half-hearted effort at covering the puck…something that cost his team a goal in Game One of this series against the Bruins.

Like any goaltender, regardless of stature, Price is reliant on his team in front of him.  The current roster of the team has been exposed as being weaker than first advertised, so Price hasn’t always received the support he should rightfully expect, but neither has he returned many favours.

At this time of year, in order to get anywhere, as everyone who follows hockey knows, your goaltender has got to be The Man.  Meaning he’s got to be solid, not necessarily spectacular, but reliable.  And every so often, he’s got to steal a game or two for his team.

Bob, when was the last time Carey Price stole a game for the Montreal Canadiens? 

And even when the guy makes a good save, he’s often out-of-position following that initial save.  Much in the same way some baseball pitchers are described as throwers, not pitchers, Price is a blocker, not a goaltender.  Which may explain why he’s looked so lousy on some shootouts during the regular season.  Get his big body moving, and he looks sluggish.  Didn’t Stan Fischler call him a big stiff?  Harsh, yes, but possibly true??

No-one with any grey matter left in their brain honestly expected Montreal to win this series, though the Habs had a legitimate shot at winning Game One. 

Game Two?  A different story.  Price simply did not rise to the occasion.  He did not make the saves when his beleagured team needed him to.

Yes, to place the blame solely on his shoulders is not accurate; it appeared many on this team gave a half-hearted effort.  But we all know hockey.  Good, steady goaltending can cover up a lot of flaws.  A 3 dressed up as a 9, as that cheesy old Trooper song went.

Montreal did not receive such goaltending in Game Two until you put Halak in net for the third period.

The Washington Capitals made the right move when they put Simeon Varlamov in net for their second game against the Rangers.  Yes, they lost 1-0, but the kid sure looked better than Jose Theodore recently has, and anyhow, Varlamov may be the future of goaltending in D.C., while Theodore was a band-air solution once Christobal Huet jumped ship for more money in Chicago.

Trouble is, Bob, in Montreal, Carey Price has already been anointed the future of goaltending.  Even if the glass slipper doesn’t fit, you’re going to force it onto his foot.

- Mick Kern