The Montreal Canadiens are in a slump right now. Thats the only way you can put it. And the news that they got on Tuesday isn't going to help.
#1 goalie Cristobal Huet is going to be out for the rest of the regular season after having surgery on a torn left hamstring on Sunday. He suffered the injury against the New Jersey Devils February 14th. Huet hopes he'll be back for the playoffs if the Habs even make the playoffs. The scary thing about this injury is that this is the best case scenario. If the injury was any farther up the hamstring, Huet would be out for much, much longer.
The injury bug is hitting Montreal at the worst possible time. In addition to Huet's injury, Steve Begin will be out for 10 - 14 days and Chris Higgins is questionable for their next 2 games.
Meanwhile, AHL goalie sensation Jaroslav Halak will carry the weight of Habs goalie for the rest of the season. He has played 2 games for the Habs, both of them wins. On Sunday the Halak faced the Blue Jackets and only gave up 2 goals in a 3-2 win for the Habs. In his second game, the Habs faced the Washington Capitals in D.C. Halak gave up 3 goals in another Canadiens win. Even with only 2 NHL games under his belt, Halak is already drawing comparisons to Ken Dryden. He may lead the Habs to the playoffs, but that is a lot of pressure for a 21 year old. But who knows, maybe he will be the next
Dryden.While Halak takes the #1 job in Montreal, look who's left behind. David Aebischer.
He has had one of the worst years a goalie can possibly have. He couldn't beat Cristobal Huet for the # job, so he goes backup. Then, Huet gets an injury. With any other team they would go straight to their #2 goalie, but not in Montreal. Instead of Aebischer they brought up an inexperienced 21 year old to play #1. We've seen before that this guy can be great, but now, he's playing horrible.
So the question to ask in Montreal is, "Who will be the one to step it up?"
1 comment:
Go Halak!!
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