Canadiens Top Five Draft Steals Since 1996

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5. Jaroslav Halak – 9th Round, 271st Overall in 2003

What Made Halak a Draft Steal

Halak would be called up to the Canadiens on occasion, playing a few good games here and there before taking over as the teams back up goalie in 2008-09. His best moments as a Hab came during the 2009-10 season.

Halak became the center of one of the biggest goalie controversies in Montreal Canadiens history. During the 2009-10 season, Carey Price was playing inconsistently but Halak had put together a number of solid performances. That opened the door for Halak to show that he could take the reins as the teams starting goaltender. Halak was able to put up very good numbers as the starter posting a 26-13-5 record, while having a 2.40 goals against average and .924 save percentage.

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Halak was able to backstop the mightily inconsistent Canadiens to a playoff spot that season. The Habs finished the season with 88 points and were facing the President Trophy winning Washington Capitals in the playoffs.

The Capitals had finished that season off with 121 points in the standings. This created a 33 point gap separating the 1st place Capitals from the 8th place Canadiens. The Habs were clear under dogs heading into the series.

The Canadiens surprised many experts and actually won the first playoff game in overtime. Washington would go on to win the next 3 games and took a commanding 3-1 series lead. This set the stage for one of the best goal tending performances of all time.

Through the next 3 games, Halak would stand on his head for the Canadiens making 131 saves on 134 shots giving him an absolutely ridiculous .992 save percentage over those three games. His best performance came in game 6 when he made 53 saves, which is the Canadiens franchise record for the most saves in a playoff game.

The Canadiens would go on to beat the Capitals creating one of the biggest upsets in playoff history. Halak being the driving force behind the teams success.

The Canadiens would go on to play the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Halak’s play remained strong and the teams overall play was also better. The series went the full 7 games before the Halak-led Canadiens finally knocked off the Champs.

The Cinderella ride would eventually come to an end for Halak as the team was eliminated in the next round by Philadelphia Flyers. This where the the goalie controversy would begin to heat up as both Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak were pending restricted free agents.

The Canadiens didn’t want the controversy to be a distraction going into the next season. The team sided in favor of Carey Price and traded Halak to the St. Louis Blues for Lars Eller. Looking back, it’s clear the Habs made the right choice with Carey Price going on win an MVP and a Vezina trophy. Halak has had some success but has never been able to have the same success as he had in those 2010 playoffs.

Why Halak Ranks #5

Halak ranks fifth on the list because of where he was chosen deep in the 2003 draft. His playoff heroics are a very important factor in ranking him on the list, considering the pressure and how heavily the Canadiens were outplayed against Washington. He also cracks our top 5 list because of how popular he was considering there are still a few Canadiens fans who still think that the Habs should have hung on to Halak and traded Price.

It’s hard to rank Halak any higher than 5th, however, because he only appeared in 101 games with the Canadiens. Most of his tenure in Montreal was spent as the teams backup. However Halak’s 2010 playoff performance will not soon be forgotten by Habs fans.

Next: 4th Best Draft Steal

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