Montreal Canadiens: 10 Worst Transactions Since Patrick Roy Trade
#10: June 17th 2010, Jaro Halak is traded for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz
Halak was an unknown when the Canadiens drafted him in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL Draft. He quickly made a name for himself as a prospect by playing well at the QMJHL, ECHL and AHL levels.
In 2006-07 his progress was rewarded when he was brought up to the Canadiens for the first time. He had a 2.00 goals against average and a .932 save percentage in 28 games for the Hamilton Bulldogs that season. The following year, he posted a 2.10 GAA and .929 SV% in 28 more games.
Halak became the Habs number one goaltender in the 2009-10 season by outplaying Carey Price. He had a 2.40 GAA and .924 SV% in 45 contests. The Slovakian goaltender was at his very best in the 2010 postseason.
The Canadiens pulled off perhaps the greatest upset in hockey history when they eliminated the Washington Capitals in seven games. The only reason they even made it to game five, let alone won the series was the play of Halak. He was equally brilliant against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round, carrying the team to the Eastern Conference Final.
With his value at an incredible high at the age of 25, Pierre Gauthier dealt him for Lars Eller who was coming off an 18 goal in 70 game AHL season and Ian Schultz who was a mediocre scorer in the WHL.
Eller’s offensive game never developed, and Schultz could barely get into the AHL. Eller is a good third line center, but Halak’s value was through the roof in 2010. There were rumours that teams were surprised that Halak was even available, suggesting Gauthier didn’t do his due diligence before making the deal.
Gauthier was wide to move Halak and keep Price, but the return for Halak was quite underwhelming.
#9: February 26th 2008, Cristobal Huet is traded for 2nd round pick
The Huet trade to the Washington Capitals at the 2008 trade deadline made little sense for the Canadiens. The team had a rookie, Carey Price and a solid veteran in Huet in net. Jaro Halak was just 22 and was playing well in the AHL.
At the deadline, though the Canadiens were fighting for first place in the Eastern Conference, they traded their starting goaltender. You would think a team in first would need to be blown away to move their starter. However, all the Habs got back was a 2nd round pick.
Huet was having a solid year, posting a 2.56 GAA and .916 SV%. Price’s stats were almost identical in the regular season. Once the postseason came around, the 20 year old Price self destructed in an embarrassing second round defeat to the Philadelphia Flyers.
While the rookie goalie struggled, the Habs had no choice but to keep running him out there against the Flyers. Had they kept Huet, he would have provided a great option to give the team a much better chance against Philly.
However, the team decided at the trade deadline to go into seller mode and gave up their starter to a team who finished ten points behind them in the standings. I still don’t understand the trade to this day.