The Halak Trade

We wax poetic/nostalgic/idiotic about pop culture, gadgetry and the like at DyscultureD. But sometimes we feel the need to go ultra-Canadian. Like now.

I’m going to talk about hockey.

Our crew was in the midst of our live show when The Stanley Cup was won this year – and I have no regrets about that (I TiVo’d the game, after all). During the playoffs I was very aware of what was going down, and one of the most inspiring and surprising stories of the campaign was the play of the Montreal Canadiens. They went further than anyone thought possible (I’m talking to you, too, Habs fans).

Jaroslav Halak was a huge reason they did.

I can’t remember a trade since the Gretzky-to-LA deal that saw such an important piece of a playoff success story traded so quickly afterward. I had to do a double-take when I read about it. I swear I thought it was Carey Price who was traded. It was bizarre.

I think this trade actually makes both teams better, though. Price has been given about as big a vote of confidence as you can give a player. The job is his now. The Blues get a top-notch goalie who arguably carried his team to the conference finals. Les Habitants get a couple of prospects (re: inexpensive players that may work out) and they don’t have to deal with contract negotiations with Halak. He’s going to command a pretty penny as a result of this performance. This was a smart move all around.

Although I’m sure writing me about it here may raise a few eyebrows regarding my own smarts.