posted by habsbloggergirl
So we’re playing Buffalo, the Jaroslav on the other team scores, making it 3-0, and all of the sudden everyone’s really missing our Jaro, who is out with the flu.
The burning question in everyone’s mind is what happened to Carey Price? How did he go from being the most loved 21-year-old in Montreal (though Guillaume Latendresse was giving him a run for his money, at least in the French media) to playing the worst hockey probably of his career?
Being a psych major, I have been thinking about this a lot. Is it his age? Is it a motivation problem? Confidence? Lack of practice (or the right kind of practice)? Not knowing how to deal in stressful situations?
I think it’s actually all of the above, though some points stick out more than others. Here’s my breakdown of the situation:
1) Carey is one of the youngest goalies we’ve had in a while. Huet and Theodore (in the last few years anyway) were older and had more experience. Don’t get me wrong, age isn’t everything. Price is pretty mature and has always showed how calm and collected he is, but right now something isn’t clicking in that department. When I would watch a game that he was playing in at the beginning of this year, it seemed as though he exuded a sort of “calmness” over the entire team as well as myself. How many goalies can do that? Not many. But now, that’s gone… and with it the team’s confidence in their goalie.
2) He doesn’t seem motivated. I think he really cares about what happens, and that he wants to play, but his lack of confidence is affecting this. Jaro is playing well, and seemingly taking his job out from under him, and normally this should cause him to elevate his game, but that’s just not happening. Something is missing there.
3) His confidence is just completely gone. He seems shaky and nervous about a lot, which he never did before. They showed him before the game, in the dressing room, and normally the guys are smiling or just sitting calmly, but he looked so nervous and stressed that it made you wonder if Halak was the only sick one on the team.
4) His practicing techniques have been an issue of late, because it seems when he gets nervous, which has been a lot lately, he goes down onto his knees too early, and people have been saying he should work on this more. He needs to somehow find a way to realize that he shouldn’t go down too early without making him think about it too much. Maybe some mental image or focusing on someone… But I don’t think he has a problem with technique or skill. He works hard, and that’s the most important part. He also needs to realise he had skill and technique before he started playing like this and that obviously didn’t just disappear overnight.
5) He had a good way of dealing with stressful situations before… or rather it came naturally to him, since his personality allowed for it. But now that something has changed, he needs to find a way to adapt, and someone, either Rollie Melanson, one of the other coaches, or maybe a sport psychologist, should be helping him with this. Self-talk (what he should be thinking in these situations) is important, and if he doesn’t know how to do this properly, it can really affect his game in the long run.
So there you have it. Price has a lot to work on, and I think the Canadiens’ management knows this, and I think that they are responsible for some of it. They need to help him get out of this funk. I had said that he had to come back to a winning team, and now that he has and is still not playing his best, I think I need to rephrase what I had initially said: He needs to come back to a team who is winning because they are playing well.
In the past 4 games, Jaro stole the show. To be honest, I don’t even know how much better the team has been playing compared to when they were in their slump except for the fact that Plekanec and Kovalev woke up, our power play has started to click, and that we finally have solid goaltending. Our defense is still pretty shoddy, and though our forwards are working hard, they aren’t producing as much as they can. We can be a better team than the one that has been playing, but it’s so rare that everyone is “on” at the same time.
Carey needs to get back on the horse and realize that he’s got what it takes. People believe in him for a reason. He just has to learn not to give up on himself.
P.S. A little off topic but: Why Luc Gelinas, during the intermission, wished Derek Roy luck for a hat trick, is beyond me… That’s just asking for trouble!
I believe in him and will continue to believe in him, and I hope people don’t stop just because he’s in a slump right now. Poor guy. Last night was hard to watch, even if some of the goals were not his fault.
Carey Price and Several young players on the team are partying very heavily the last while, with more than just alcohol, I kmow this for a fact. This needs to be dealt with right away, it is destroying our Habs. Mgm’nt has to intervine right away. Just look at the recent play of Gorges, Komi,Higgins and co. I have friends in Mtl who know this for a fact. This partying has these young players, Worn out, confused and mentally not in best interet of the team, It makes me sad to see our Habs falling apart like this. See If something can be done to get this message to someone in the organization, because obviously it’s not something Mgm’nt knows anything about.
Good article. I think that you are right habsbloggergirl. There is an issue of confidence.
But I will disagree that it is something that Price can regain alone.
Price has never had an issue with confidence before he came to the Canadiens, so why now?
Well, he has never had a coach who has gone out of his way to undercut his confidence before. And he has never been subjected to a bigoted media who blames him for taking the place of one of their favoured sons.
If you have listened carefully to Carbonneau over the past two years, you will notice that he speaks differently about Price than his other goaltenders. Carbonneau has done everything in his power to derail Price’s career and his success. It has been so bad that Gainey has intervened on three occasions (that we know about).
Carey Price will regain his confidence whe he has a coach who appreciates him and believes in him. That coach is NOT Guy Carbonneau.
I agree with you Tracy. Theloss last night was not Carey Price’s fault.
Anon, your comments are ridiculous. Please don’t hide behind the anonymous label, admit that you aren’t even in Montreal, and then say you know things for a FACT. Call it what it is, a rumour.
In a general way, if discipline and work ethic are issues on this team, that is a reflection on the coach.
Stop for a minute and read what you wrote. If a rumour about player misconduct has to be passed from your friend, to you, to this website, and now (as you suggest) we forward it to management for action, can you honestly say that the coach is doing his job?
I am not in Mtl, What’s that got to do with anything??? and I honestly think Carbonneau is losing or has lost control of this team! Believe me There is no bigger Habs fan in this world, I’m very concerned, that’s all, And how would You describe this sudden collapse. I’m in Mtl 5-6 times a year, I know the night life, even the greats Lafluer and H Richard and former coaches have mentioned something of this hardcore partying!! People and the media have just shyed away from this topic. It’s beyond confidence.
Anon,
I am just cautioning you that you can’t say that you know about players enjoying the night life in Montreal when you don’t live here. Knowing something for fact insinuates personal knowledge.
We can agree on two things.
Many players are college age young men. Partying isn’t that unusual. And this isn’t a new phenomenon. Where was the media scrutiny about the off-ice exploits of Guy Lafleur?
Secondly, if players are not focussed on hockey, that is a coaching problem. Its hard for Guy Carbonneau to have credibility with the players when his own work ethic as a coach is so poor.
Thanks for the comments everyone!! They are much appreciated. :)
I wanted to address a couple of things though:
1)Tracy: I agree with you… I don’t think he’s a bad goalie or anything like that… it’s just a crisis of confidence. He can still be the great goalie he is on the road to becoming… just needs to find himself is all.
2)Anonymous: The partying is another aspect. I understand your opinion, and if you listen to certain people like Jean Perron who broke this story recently, he’d be in complete agreement with you, but I honestly don’t think the guys would do anything to jeopardize the team, in terms of drugs or even excessive alcohol. They have been going out at night forever, it hasn’t just started when the slump did (in fact you are right when you mention that it went as far back as Lafleur etc…) It is just something that exists in Montreal, and because of this, I think that it really isn’t a problem. Also I think some of the accused players mentioned that they have been going out less since the slump (after losses etc…).
3) The Rocket: First, thanks for the complement! Second, I had never said that he could do it alone… in fact I think he needs to work with Rollie Melanson (or another goaltending coach if that’s the problem, or a sport psychologist). You said that Carey had never had a confidence issue until now, and though that may be, he has never been under this much pressure at this high a level until now. I think that they are over Theodore (unless you were talking about Huet… but I don’t think the media liked him as much)… and it’s weird because I find that the media loves Price… and I think they have been pretty patient with him, considering.
Carbo has his favorites (and poor Dandenault is not one of them). I’m not sure how he feels about Price, but I think that he judges him fairly: on his play. I don’t always agree with his decisions, but I think that most of the time, they end up turning out okay. The constant line changes drive me up a wall, but there is not much we can do about it.
I think it’s joint fault of the players and the coach. The coach can’t control everything, but it IS his job to motivate his players.
Anyway thanks again everyone for the comments! They really help me with my stories! :)
Hi habsbloggergirl,
Whether its self talk or employing a sports psychologist, you are suggesting that it is Carey’s problem to solve. That’s where I disagree. Price, like others on the team, needs the coach to show confidence in him. Anything more is just making a bigger issue than it is.
Whether its a win or a loss, Carbonneau speaks differently about Price than he does Halak, or last year: Huet. Carbonneau has done everything possible to upend Price’s career but has been overruled by Gainey.
I was referring to Huet who was always over hyped by Carbo and the media. Don’t your remember all the whining when he was traded?
The key point that you made is that it is the coach’s responsibility to motivate the players. Carbo certainly gets a failing grade for that.
No no… I think it should be the team who should go about getting a sport psychologist… not Carey himself. You are right that the coach needs to show confidence in him, but I don’t think it’s just that. I think that even when he does, he doesn’t step up… which is something that needs to be addressed.
Yes I do with Huet, but I think that was just because when he left we had 2 goaltenders who were under the age of 25 and they were worried (and last year rightly so).
I think he treats Jaro and Carey differently, but the other way around hahaha… I find he’s always so criticizing with Jaro (for example when we played in Vancouver and he let in 4 goals, but was actually really good I thought, just the shots were high again and the team was awful, the media asked about him, and he said something like well he was wasn’t good enough, when he had NOTHING to do with the loss)… he probably treats them about the same, but I see that hefavors Carey slightly (especially at the beginning of the year).
Don’t be mad at me for saying this!!!:
You are getting mad because you find that everyone is blaming one person for all the team’s failures: Carey Price. But you have to realize that you are doing the same thing with Carbonneau (unless you count Breezer ;) haha)!
The key point in all this is, there ISN’T one person to blame… there are 20-something of them (coaches and players). And as Higgins mentioned recently, they are all finally starting to realize this and focus on playing better as a team instead of as individuals…
Criticizing Carey Price and Guy Carbonneau are two completely different things for two reasons.
The first is that Carey Price is overscrutinized. Look at all the time we are wasting focusing on him here yet he is not the reason that the Canadiens lost in Buffalo nor against Washington. On the other hand, Guy Carbonneau gets a free pass because of his cozy, unprofessional relationship with the main-stream media.
Secondly, when there is an illness, you investigate the symptoms (in the Habs case that would be poor defense, team confidence, inconsistent fore-check, lack of breakout, etc., etc.) But you actually treat the cause. In all cases, particularly with communication, team confidence and players who are under-performing, the root cause is coaching. Even Bob Gainey admitted that.
He may not be the reason we lost in Buffalo but he was one of the reasons we didn’t win.
Let me explain… I think that Jaro has clearly been the reason we won the last 4 games he played. Carey has not been able to bring that. His lack of confidence is hurting the rest of the team, since like it or not, they play better when their goaltender is confident.
What I’m trying to say is the reason we have been winning lately is we had a goaltender who would steal the game. The reason we didn’t win in buffalo was because we no longer had a goaltender who could steal the game. I’m not endorsing this type of play… they shouldn’t rely solely on the goaltender… but that’s what we have been doing and that’s why we didn’t win.
Why we lost: horrible defense, and a team who relied too much on their goaltender.
I disagree. Only comparing Halak vs Price is too simplistic.
In the Buffalo game, the Canadiens got one meaningless goal with less that a minute left in the game. Isn’t that a greater that the Canadiens didn’t win? The Habs powerplay was shutout after being hot in the previous wins..isn’t that a bigger factor? Penalty killing wasn’t good. Defense was horrible. So how can we conclude that Price was one of the reasons that the team didn’t win?
I contend that if the Canadiens score once, twice or more on their 18 shots in the first period, and Price plays the same, the Canadiens win.
Do you disagree?
I’m not saying he was the ONLY reason they didn’t win, but he let in 5 goals. Ignoring everything else that did happen. Honestly, I don’t think that what I just said is a fair comment, but adding it to the fact that he played with NO confidence makes it fair. A few of the goals he let in were pretty weak on top of it. He wasn’t good.
But in addition to him playing badly, the rest of the team didn’t make up for it. And you can’t blame a loss on one player or person. He didn’t play well but neither did the 20 other guys, so when that many people play bad we lose.
I still think that if Jaro played we may have had a chance, because when a goalie plays with confidence it tends to flow to the rest of the team. It usually only happens with Price (this flowing of confidence haha) but of late Jaro has been stealing games, which has given the team confidence in him.
All that to say, tonight you could feel Carey’s confidence flowing haha… I could feel it from the second the puck hit the ice on the first face off. He played a great game. The team didn’t. See this is what I mean… comparing tonight and against Buffalo… tonight he made the saves, Wednesday he didn’t and that’s that. He hasn’t been making them since he came back from his injury. Jaro has. That is the difference.
All 5 goals against in the Buffalo game stemmed from defensive errors that left Sabres players all alone usually in the slot. Those goals cannot be described as weak.
Not to carry this on too much longer, but I want to be sure that we are not contributing to a myth. While I appreciate that Jaroslav Halak did add four wins to his record, it was not always by stellar goaltending.
Against Ottawa, Halak allowed 2 weak goals, and played one strong period. But it was the return of Kovalev night and the Canadiens scored 5.
Against the Canucks, Halak was superb. It was his best game of the season and he earned the shutout.
Against Philadelphia, Halak allowed 2 weak goals in a tough first period. Canadiens scored 4 and won in OT.
Against San Jose, Halak was having trouble tracking the puck. He is very fortunate that the Sharks didn’t score more than 2. The Habs hung on and won on the strength of 3 first period goals.
The point remains..people tend to be blinded by goaltending. It is time to turn the focus to other parts of the team.
I think that the team gets confidence from scoring both even strength and power-play. They haven’t done that very much the past two games.
I guess we can agree to disagree… I found Price’s goals pretty weak as well… I’m not saying that the defensive errors that led up to them didn’t help things along, but at the end of the day, when it the scorer vs. him he didn’t keep it out and he was super shaky the entire game (as he has been for awhile). But for example, the goal last night, I found it wasn’t his fault, and he wasn’t shaky.
As for Jaro, I get the feeling he’s on your Breezer / Carbo list! hahaha… Whether you like it or not, he was playing with confidence and that was the key. Even if he let in a couple of bad goals here or there (which I honestly didn’t see as many of as you), the fact that he played with confidence and didn’t freak out after he let in the goals, allowed the team to win, something which Price had not been doing (he didn’t stay calm after being scored on, something which he is usually notorious for!!).
Anyway, let’s just hope that’s over now… Though I can’t help but wonder who he’ll put in Sunday night!
Wow..if those goals against Price are to be considered weak, then I will lower my standards significantly, and have several more to add to the Halak list.
As far as having any against Halak, I don’t. Read my comments again. How did I describe his play against the Canucks.
In my opinion, this is all getting a little silly. Halak didn’t play as well as he is being credited for and Price didn’t play as poorly as he is being criticized for.
Halak was not the picture of confidence. He let in bad goals and looked shaky at times. But he also battled through and made saves. Price made some great saves in the Buffalo game and was superb against Atlanta.
The difference? During the winning streak, the team was scoring…even strength and powerplay. Penalty killers were doing their job. The situation is reverse in the last two games.
Far too much time has been spent dissecting goaltending. I look forward to future articles on defense, special teams and coaching.
hahaha well okay.. I still feel how I feel, but I understand & respect your opinion.
Price is in tonight… I hope he plays well!
Comments are closed.