HockeyIt's Price's time to show his greatness

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Hard to tell who was more surprised about Thursday's Montreal-St. Louis trade - the goaltenders involved, the agents, the media or the teams' fans. Aside from the two organizations themselves, no one seemed to know it was coming.

Carey Price's representative almost dropped the phone when we spoke. Jaroslav Halak is stunned that Montreal never contacted him after the season, meaning the Blues didn't even try to talk contract before making the deal. Tom Laidlaw, who represents Chris Mason, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "They gave us every indication they wanted Chris to be the guy."

What does this mean? Let's look:

Price's upside over Halak's performance

This is the money quote from Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier: "When we discuss players, we discuss what they are going to do in the future. ... We made this decision based on our projections, and we're very comfortable with [Price] as the future."

This confirms what Halak suspected for years - no matter how well he did, the organization always swooned over Price's physical gifts and potential. It's why he didn't fully trust the Canadiens and, while disappointed, probably isn't surprised.

In a league that believes size does matter - in goal - many organizations would tell you Montreal made the right choice. Clearly, Gauthier and Jacques Martin looked at the way the Flyers picked apart Halak with high shots and said, "We've got to go with the bigger guy."

That kind of talk drives his agent, Allan Walsh, particularly crazy. Halak is going to have one mammoth chip on his shoulder, which is good news for Blues fans.

Remember that St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong is extremely close with Bob Gainey. He is one of the few people who knew Gainey would resign this year before it happened. In his conference call, Armstrong said he liked Halak because "he is a good practice player" and that's essential to becoming a great player. Wonder where he got that from.

Salary cap flexibility

The strangest thing about all of this was that no one talked contract with Halak before the deal. But Gauthier poo-pooed that, saying he had a pretty good idea of what the Slovak star was going to get in arbitration.

The NHL is a copycat league, and teams are looking at how Chicago and Philadelphia (this season), and Detroit (2008) won the Stanley Cup without spending a fortune in net. Gauthier had to assume that Kari Lehtonen's three-year, $10.65 million US deal in Dallas could make Halak a $4 million guy.

Price, also a restricted free agent, made $2.2 million. (This now becomes a very interesting negotiation. After a disappointing season, he becomes a number one, which gives him the hammer in contract talks. Curious to see where this goes).

Both centre Lars Eller and right-winger Ian Schultz, the players heading to Montreal in the deal, have two more years on their entry-level deals, at $1.271 million and $875,000, respectively. (One AHL coach who happens to know both players had great things to say about them. He was particularly surprised St. Louis would trade Eller, but added, "If any team could do it, it's the Blues. They are loaded with prospects. That's a pretty fair trade for both teams.").

By trading Halak for these prospects, Gauthier, for the time being, takes money off his payroll next season. Who knows if Jeff Carter is really available, but let's just say for argument's sake, that deal was on the table. (We all know Montreal fans are thinking about it, so let's just play with the numbers.)

The GM wants to get another goalie in free agency to help Price. You've got to figure that Carter, Price and a second guy will cost between $8-$10 million. And, Carter is an RFA next summer. That is going to be a big ticket.

Price, Eller (who should be in the NHL next season), and the other goalie will probably run you $5-$7 million. (I'm not counting Schultz, who is probably going to Hamilton of the AHL.) There is more wiggle room going forward, too. Gauthier makes this trade look better if he uses that flexibility to wrap up defencemen Andrei Markov (unrestricted free agent next summer) and Josh Gorges (RFA).

But, something else could make it look a heckuva lot worse.

Price better be ready

One reporter interrupted a Gauthier response on the conference call to say his wife didn't understand how the team could trade a goalie that got them to the playoffs. It was rude and annoying, but illustrates the sentiment.

Halak is the people's choice in La Belle Province. Price has zero room for error and I'm pretty sure he's aware of that.

Obviously, this is the biggest risk. So many people who've seen Price play at the world juniors and in the AHL believe he will still be a great NHL goaltender. They believe in his size, his athleticism, his skill. He showed a lot off-ice this season, too, getting into the best shape of his career, and being helpful to Halak as a backup.

The key question is: How will he handle the first boos? We all know they're coming. Price hasn't reacted well to that in the past. Patrick Roy even pulled him aside and told him, "Hey, I had to go through it, too, so don't let it bother you."

I'm one of those who are not convinced the best place for Price is Montreal. I think it would be better if he started over somewhere else. But that option is gone now, and he's being thrown into the ocean without a lifejacket. The danger in Gauthier saying you need two goalies now - as he did on the conference call - is that it will take one bad goal for the fans to start screaming for the other guy.

Great goalies, and great players, overcome that. It is Price's time to show his greatness.

Does Nabokov want to remain a Shark?

If he does, he better be willing to take a pay cut. That's another UFA goalie on the market (Mason). How many of them would want to play for the San Jose Sharks? I'm betting almost all of them. Unless Evgeni Nabokov drops his demands, GM Doug Wilson will go in a different direction.

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