The Price of Responsibility...

The trade deadline passed and the players moved.. now what?? well.. montreal certainly pulled a surprise by giving away arguably their #1 goaltender for practically nothing. Sure they could have potentially gotten more for huet than a menial second round draft pick, but then again there's the argument of whether there's a market for goaltenders in the NHL these days. Unless ur name is Roberto Luongo, JS Giguere, Martin Brodeur or Henrik Lundqvist, ur pretty much expendable in the NHL While teams like dallas, pittsburgh, and san jose strengthened their team, the habs and Bob Gainey seem to have done the reverse.

The flipside of this move though, is the payoff that waits around the corner. Sure, now all the hopes of a montreal stanley cup falls on the shoulders of a 20 year with a 21 year old backup. But history seems to favour the habs on this one. The last 2 times a rookie goaltender was thrust with this kind of responsibility, they brought home the stanley cup to la belle provence in 1971 and 1986, under dryden and roy respectively. I'm not saying that Carey Price is anywhere near the calibre of the 2 hall of famers mentioned above, but right now all we can do is hope that this young man can handle the pressures that come with the job and take us through. If he doesn't, we always have that draft pick we got.. which is 1 draft pick more than what we would have gotten for huet at the end of the season.

As a side note, what will happen if Montreal faces the Penguins in the first round?? they seem to be a powerhouse before the acquisition of Hossa. The two teams seem to be pretty evenly posed with them splitting the season series 2-2 but does the addition of hossa to the lineup really threaten to put them Pens over the top? I'm too scared to answer this question myself. my heart tells me that i shouldn't turn my back on my habs.. but the reality is that the powerplay lineup of malkin, crosby, hossa, malone is quite possibly the best line since alfredsson, spezza, heatley and redden. It's scary enough to think of one league leader in a line.. imagine having to block shots coming from 3.. I guess the bottom line is..Can Price Handle It? Is the loss of Huet too big a price for Price?? Only time will tell.