When time passes, though, we tend to remember things differently. Saves get more miraculous, glove hands quicker and the number of shots more impossible as our memories soften the reality of what we witnessed. Sometimes, we go back to the video years later and what we recalled as being a brilliant performance was really kind of ordinary, with a few great saves thrown in. I wondered if it would be that way for Halak's Game Six miracle against Washington. Maybe, if we went back and looked at the tapes with an objective eye, it wouldn't really measure up to Roy or Dryden. Perhaps it was all a trick of perception; fans fooled by living so long without a miracle that even a minor miracle would seem spectacular.
As I wondered about that, and about how great Halak's playoff performance really was in the context of the great goalie performances Habs fans have witnessed over the years, I got an email from a reader. Michael Whitehouse is a stats guy, and he decided to look at the save percentages of Canadiens goalies in playoff series from 1986 to the present. The goalie had to have played at least three games in the series to be considered. Here's a chart of what he found, including save percentage and average number of shots faced per game:
That was intriguing enough to get Michael looking a bit farther into Habs history. He went back to 1971, to the amazing Ken Dryden performance in the playoffs that year. It turns out that in nearly forty years of Canadiens playoff goaltending, Jaro Halak is in the top five for save percentage in a series. Our perceptions are true and our memories aren't playing tricks on us. He really was that good.
Here's the link to Michael Whitehouse's chart documenting the goalie stats of every Canadiens playoff series since 1971. For those who have trouble deciphering the chart, Michael has concluded the top five performances for a Canadiens goalie in a playoff series since 1971 are as follows:
1. Steve Penney, 1984, Round 1 vs. Boston: .974 save percentage
2. Ken Dryden, 1976, Round 2 vs. Chicago: .973 save percentage
3. Ken Dryden, 1977, Round 2 vs. St. Louis: .962 save percentage
4. Patrick Roy, 1989, Round 3 vs. Philly: .940 save percentage
5. Jaroslav Halak, 2010, Round 1 vs. Washington: .939 save percentage
Maybe it'll turn out that Halak will be more Steve Penney than Ken Dryden when we look back at his career in twenty years. Or maybe he'll have a place among the greats by then. Either way, nothing can take away the fact that he played an incredible series against the Capitals and his name can be safely mentioned in the same breath as the best playoff performers in Habs history. In my memory, it'll be one of the best birthdays ever.
19 comments:
Dont care what anyone says. They should have held out for someone more prominent in terms of trade return.
Whether or not Price turns into the goalie he was projected to become is anyones guess. I think he has a better chance than Halak does though. And if we are looking at the run by Halak in terms of Bottom line he did win. Isn't that what they say? Just win baby ...or all he does is win. His regular season can be summarized this way.
But remember, he finished the playoffs a .500 % goalie and got yanked 3 times.
I was never sold on him like i was never sold on Theodore. I thought both of them looked to small to be consistent long term performers.
Yes, Halak had a good play off run and its fading away quickly with (Montreal Media provoked) dreams of Prices high ceiling.
Unless… you have the NHL network. Those of us who are fortunate enough to have the NHL network have recently re-enjoyed the Caps-Habs series. Halak won that series on his own it is impossible to argue that point while viewing the game. Watching it the second time around AFTER the trade is very, very disappointing.
I’m looking forward to the re-airing of the Pens-Habs series in a week or two. That series was more of a team effort by the team as they started to believe they could win. Halak played well but he didn’t carry the team like he did against the Caps.
I know people are hoping Price will be good in the years to come. However, I highly doubt that he will ever catch t lightning in a bottle the way that Halak did this year.
HH
After watching the NHL network replay, I'd have to say Halak was indeed wonderful but the part I forgot was how great Gill was and Gorges too, blocking shots especially on the PK and how the entire team seemed to step up as a unit in games 5,6 &7. I would rather have Halak than Price but a bigger issue is getting more balance in the lineup overall and keeping Halak might have hurt the Habs in the long run.
Halak didn't play as well with the rough & big teams. They had his #. He was a good goalie but not the best! He also reminded me of Theodore.
We shall see how Price will play this season but I'm betting it will be better than last year!
Halak was outstanding in that series. Regardless, I can't find too much fault in the decision that was made. Sadly, it has become a tough business, and tough decisions have to be made, and I can see the logic behind this one. Like legions of others, however, I was hoping for a better return. Although I understand that we may have gotten just that, I also understand that it will take awhile to determine that for sure.
But, the greatness that is Carey Price can not be expressed through mere statistics. One needs to understand Georg Cantor's work on infinite sets before he/she can comprehend fully the magnitude of the Hab's decision to go with him.
JT, you must have been born a day later than my hockey hating wife, who has gotten her wish a few times over the years on that date!
To the anon at the top....
"Dont care what anyone says. They should have held out for someone more prominent in terms of trade return."
Maybe this fact will change your tune. No prominent players of interest were likely offered, and it is pretty much established that there was no cap room for one. The prominent player, was one we retained, in Plekanec.
@Robert L: Your wife actually hates hockey enough to WISH the Habs get bounced? I feel for you! My hockey-hating spouse wishes for them to go deep, just because it makes me happy. And it's all about me being happy, right?!
@Brian: Cantor gives us all hope. Then Wittgenstein dashes that hope. Math is just like trade deadline day: infinite possibility versus a tragic reality.
I'm a firm believe that there is more to hockey then stats and numbers. Its the musician in me....people who try to mathematize (is that actually a word) music, well...it just doesn't work. I feel the same about hockey. Stats are important, but they don't count for everything. There are other reasons besides stats for keeping or trading a player. That said, I'd rather keep Price over Halak. Like someone else mentioned, he has more potential and while its a risk and we don't know if that potential will pan out...if it does....oh boy!!
JT, all I have to say is you made me feel so much better about my one official Habs playoff loss on my birthday. Well, one out of three years of fandom, plus one loss the day after my birthday party. Still, your thing is worse.
The beauty of the thing is that there are 20 guys dressed for a game, coaches, trainers, and staff. Crediting the goalie with the win makes actually as much sense as crediting any other player with the loss. (Montreal fans and sportswriters do that but the NHL doesn't acknowledge it as a valid stat - see Brisbois).
All to say that when Halak wins a game he is a phenom but when he stinks out the place he gets a pass? That is hardly objective. Good goalies hold their team in there always, not just sometimes. Halak isn't that good.
As an aside Markov is good. I hope they let him heal this time, and I hope he plays many more years with the team.
Just wanted to clarify something about this analysis. Its purpose was not to beatify Halak and to say categorically that the Habs made the wrong move in choosing Carey Price. Instead, I wanted to situate Halak's first round performance in historical context. Admittedly, his later round performances were not nearly as stunning. If you look at Roy and Dryden, some of their best performances were in Rounds 2, 3, & 4. Having said that, with the exception of Dryden in '71, they never faced such an exhausting and ungodly barrage of first round shots as Halak did this year.
Jessica and Stephane: a rather apt analogy with music and sports and I agree. When I watched Halak in the playoffs I saw passion and virtuosity and felt a symphony of emotions. When I watched Price it was to witness a child prodigy who while having the technical parts nailed down lacks the artiste and emotion that only the struggle can bring to light.
Maybe you should officially change your birthday to the end of June so the Habs can avoid being eliminated before the Stanley Cup finals.
why are you writing an article about a guy who's gone. no one cares anymore, yes lets cry about spilt milk. get over it he's gone. He stunk while he was here anyways. If you look at the team as a whole they protected him alot when they played AS A TEAM. when the team collapsed halak was the WORST PLAYER ON THE TEAM. He got Powned/undressed/made a bitch of by, of all players, Aaron Asham (one of the worst players I have ever seen). So your article Stinks and was a complete waste of my 7 minutes. And for your information NEXT YEAR when they change the rules for goalies, making their pads smaller, you'll notice that halak will return to being one horrible goalie.
@ anonymous. If you consider facing 40.4 shots per 60 minutes (the barrage faced by Halak in Round 1 vs. Washington) to be indicative of a protected goalie....well then, all I can say is that you have a pretty warped notion of protection.
Lars Eller has been on Timmin's, Gainey and Gautier's top priority list for five years now(possibly longer, depending on thier scouting depth) and when the opportunity came to get the big Dane they jumped. It's all speculation but the kid has Sundin potential and if/when he pans out Halak will be as forgotten as Rivet. Remember folks Josh Gorges for Craig Rivet. Go back and read some posts around that time. Gorges is our next captain in my book.
To the Anonymous poster who wrote "no one cares anymore" concerning Jaro. Are you Kidding? Or has the fast moving internet generation fried every last molecule of memory in your skull. I realise it's a "brave new world" wherein the technology and information flux exceeds our capacity for data storage in the cerebral cortex but Jaro was just here. That's equatable to saying nobody cares about Saku anymore, he's gone, stop writting about him. Grow up kid.
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