This is a good reminder that Carey Price has played very well in the first month of the season. Unfortunately his team has not given him much support on many nights which translates into the deceiving won-loss record for Price.
Tuesday, 03.11.2009 / 2:01 PM
Montreal Canadiens
PRESS RELEASE
MONTREAL – Netminder Carey Price is the Molson Cup Player of the Month for October.
Price, who was the overall Molson Cup recipient for 2008-09, is the first winner of the 2009-10 season.
Price collected 13 points in the Molson Cup standings for October by virtue of two first-star selection (4-3 win Oct. 1st at Toronto and 2-1 win Oct. 3 at Buffalo), and one second-star selection (3-2 loss Oct. 31 at Chicago). He finished ahead of teammate Travis Moen, who earned 8 Molson Cup points last month.
Price will be presented with the Molson Cup during a pre-game ceremony prior to tonight’s game against the Atlanta Thrashers at the Bell Centre.
I'm all for the kid doing well for himself, but to me he was nowehere near as valuable to the team as Plekanec was. He also only played in 8 of the team's 14 games in October, which means he was either spectacular in those games (which he wasn't) or everyone else stunk (almost true, but there are some standouts).
I'm not going to get my knickers in a twist because he was the sole reason why we got off to a 2-0 start, but I think beyond that he was good, nothing more, nothing less, whereas Plekanec was terrific all month long.
Kyle , I have to agree with you concerning Price receiving the Molson Cup for October. It's an absolute joke how the Molson three star selection are done.The point system is ridiculous for the most part.
In my opinion, Price wasn't even one of the top five players for October (Plekanec, Cammalleri,Gionta, Hamrlik and Moen were all better choices)
How Tomas Plekanec isn't the winner is beyond me.
Price has no confidence and his ability to make the "big stop" at crucial times of the game is almost non-existent. Granted, the Habs defense has been porous at times but Halak has to play with the same defensive corp in front of him.
Martin has to use the better goaltender regardless who was drafted higher and that is Halak right now.
I have a hard time disagreeing with you about the Molson Cup. I think Price was not even the 2nd or 3rd or 4th best player on the team in October. But it's an irrelevant award so I won't worry about it.
The real problem lies with the defense. This group is awful right now. They absolutely need Markov and O'Byrne to come back and stabilize things. I would like to see Markov with Spacek, Hamrlik with O'Byrne and Gorges with either Gill or Mara. That to me is a group that can play well together. This group now is overmatched almost every night. I'd even like to see another defenseman added to that group, one with serious defensive chops and sandpaper. There is not very much of that on our blueline now.
As for the goalies, neither is responsible for the wins or losses IMO. I don't think Halak has stolen any games, and I don't think he's given away any games. Price stole 2 games to start, and has been merely ok since. He's been good enough to lose by 1 goal often times, which means he just needs to make 1 or 2 more key stops…but I think it would be convenient and lazy to let it rest at that. The defense has to stop turning the puck over in their own zone and they have to stop letting teams walk in untouched. No goalie can save this wreckage right now.
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