Sean Gordon
GlobeSports
It’s all their fault: Through the decades Montreal goaltenders often take the heat for the team’s lack of success despite their brilliance in the cage
In 1979, at the tail end of a season during which he would lose only 10 games and lead the Montreal Canadiens to a sixth Stanley Cup in eight years, Hall of Fame goalie Ken Dryden was booed mercilessly.
In Game 2 of the final series, the people wanted Michel (Bunny) Larocque and would have had him if the luckless netminder hadn’t taken a shot on the melon during warm-up.
In 1992, someone bought a billboard on one of Montreal’s busiest commuter arteries that demanded the Habs trade Patrick Roy, arguably the greatest goaltender in history. Naturally enough, he carried them to the Cup the following season.
But such is the job description for the hardest gig in hockey.
“People are always going after the goalies in Montreal, they’re going to create a controversy even when there is none,” said former Habs coach Jacques Demers. “It’s always the goalie’s fault when they lose. I think it’s because the fans have been spoiled with great goalies over the years, the legacies of the Roys and Drydens.”
Goaltending in Montreal is only fractionally less combustible an issue than the National Question, and certainly a more immediate obsession.
As in the political debate, the ardors are often more visceral than logical: You don’t jeer two of the best who ever lived with your head, you do it with a wounded heart.
Part of it has to do with cheering for the underdog, the guy who sits uncomplainingly in the background as a more heralded player takes centre stage – Cristobal Huet, Brian Hayward, all the way back to Larocque and beyond.
Part of it may also lie in the restlessness of a fan base increasingly nostalgic for past championship glories.
Whatever the reasons, the heat is again on Carey Price as breathless talk of a goalie controversy ramps up on talk radio and fan forums despite the season being barely 10 games old (“Ridiculous,” said Demers).
Price, 22, stole two games to open the year, lost five starts in a row and has sat out the past two games in favour of Jaroslav Halak, his nominal understudy.
One Bell Centre fan flashed a sign on Thursday night proclaiming “The Price is Wrong”.
Halak, a 24-year-old Slovak, won both his starts this week and has posted rock-solid numbers.
So now what?
Only one man knows: Canadiens coach Jacques Martin. And he’s not saying.
Perhaps the only thing as tricky as playing goal in Montreal is having the responsibility of picking the guys who get to play goal.
But Martin has coached more than 1,000 NHL games; as a consequence, he is completely unfazed about wading into the most contentious aspect of life as Montreal bench boss, a fact he readily recognizes.
“I accept fans and journalists are going to have their opinions, and I respect that, but I have a job to do,” he said this week.
Martin said he’ll make his assessments on a game-by-game basis, and that the evaluative criteria are not immutable and will change from week-to-week. (By that logic, Price could start against the Rangers tonight.)
“People want to know (who will start), people are passionate, but unfortunately they’ll have to wait for the day of the game. I make decisions based on what’s best for the team and best for the individuals involved,” he said.
To Demers, the former Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers coach is the right person to deal with the unending goaltender mania because “he’s been around, he’s seen it all, no one’s going to tell him what to do.”
And he doesn’t seem especially concerned about managing personalities or dressing room allegiances.
“It’s important for athletes to recognize there are some things they don’t control, like playing time … it focuses your preparation and forces you to stay in the moment,” Martin said.
Indeed, internal competition for jobs is something Martin is keen on fostering.
As an assistant coach on Team Canada’s gold-medal winning Olympic team in 2002, he had a long conversation with Wayne Gretzky about what drove him to be the best player on the ice every night.
The Great One’s answer: Mark Messier.
“They were always competing for ice time, power-play time,” Martin said.
“To me it’s all about creating a healthy competition.”
That said, Martin took the unusual step of flying out to Calgary this summer to meet with Price and has spoken in glowing terms of his talent level and his belief he is the man to lead the team.
So has anything changed his view?
“Not at all,” he said, adding he expects Price to play a key role as the season wears on.
The care and feeding of the Habs goaltenders was an issue for former coach Guy Carbonneau – and is widely regarded as one of the reasons for his ouster – and GM Bob Gainey has been open with his admiration for Price’s considerable talent.
But for all the whispers of temperamental fragility and his self-admitted lapses in confidence during an up-and-down sophomore campaign in 2008-09, Price doesn’t seem fussed.
“Everyone wants to play, I’m no different, but as long as the team wins everyone will have a smile on their face,” he said. “Jaro’s playing really well and we’re getting Ws. That’s what’s important.”
It also helps that Price had to deal with similar talk last year.
“I guess I’m kind of getting used to it . . . there’s always a controversy,” he said.
That’s not likely to change any time soon – Halak insists he’s content to continue proving his worth, but his agent indicated before the season his client wants an opportunity to be a full-time starter. After all, as Martin pointed out, there are still 73 games left this year.
And unless he breaks with current practice, he’ll face the same question before all of them.