Goodbye, Jaro, Thanks For The Memories

Well, they've gone and done it. The Montréal Canadiens have traded Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues, for prospects Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. Eller played all of seven games in the NHL last year, Schultz played the whole season in junior with the WHL's Calgary Hitmen even though he's 20 years old, so scoring and skating may not be his strongest suits.

Let's not forget that, in addition to this season's long playoff run, Halak has been responsible for taking the team to the playoffs (and, in one instance, one point from) in 3 of the past 4 seasons.

He has been an example to follow both on and off the ice, never publicly complaining despite never getting the respect he deserved (the Rodney Dangerfield of goaltending, as it were), always working like a rabid horse in practice, taking hits for the team. He was aware of the team's history (he had Patrick Roy lifting the Cup painted on his first mask, for God's sake!) and even played his junior hockey in the province of Québec (well, Lewiston, Maine - but you don't choose which team drafts your rights!).

He was the underdog we all love(d), and made it to the top. He single-handedly defeated the Russian team at the Olympics, a defeat that hurt the best team in the tournament so much that they never recovered and were eliminated by Canada just a few days later. When the Habs were eliminated in this year's playoffs, he was so far ahead of everyone else to contend for the Conn Smythe trophy that speculation for the winner once the Hawks won Game 6 even included the Flyers' third-line center Claude Giroux as a candidate.

This stings more than a little. Of course, it's not as frustrating for a fan as the Roy trade to Colorado, nor the Guy Carbonneau trade, but it's probably the most painful one of the past decade.

In tribute, I offer these two links from my Collectibles blog, one from September 2009 featuring an AHL card of Halak's, and one from last March, featuring two cards and a postcard.

It's funny, 'cause I was under the impression that teams wanted to keep quiet, hard-working guys in their mid-20s who get the job done and love your team and town, like Halak, Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Markov and Mathieu Darche. Now one's gone, one's set to test free agency in two weeks, one is rumoured to be trade bait, and the last guy probably won't get re-signed and will go to Tampa instead, to play for his friend and new head coach Guy Boucher.