The Montreal Canadiens showed their faith in Carey Price and he delivered by carrying the team for many years.
On June 17, 2010, Montreal Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier traded goaltender Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues for forwards Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. For a very vocal minority of the Habs fanbase, it was an unpopular move but it proved to be the right decision.
The Canadiens organization had faith in the superior talent of Carey Price and he would go on to reward them by becoming the greatest goaltender of his generation.
Defenseman Josh Gorges offered his take. "Looking back at it, it’s easy to say now, but I thought that was the right decision," said Gorges. "I think down the road, Price has the potential to be a better goaltender. I think a lot of the players on our team knew that and obviously management and the goalie coaches and whoever else’s (advice was considered) felt the same way."
When this THN article appeared on January 31, 2011, Price was having a strong season, set to "play in the All-Star Game and (was) unquestionably Montreal’s MVP." In the 2010-11 season, the Canadiens were a mediocre team that "relied heavily on its goalie for success." Sound familiar?
You can read the full story in the THN Archive.
The Hockey News, Vol. 64, Issue 16
THN Archive is an exclusive vault of 2,640 issues and more than 156,000 for subscribers, chronicling the complete history of The Hockey News from 1947 until today. Visit THN.com/archive and subscribe today at subscribe.thehockeynews.com
