Jaroslav Halak Autographed 8x10 Photo

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There was sad news this morning as my favourite NHL goalie of the past 15-20 years, Jaroslav Halak, announced his retirement, five wins short of 300.

Halak made his debut with the 2006-07 Montréal Canadiens, a team that started the season with Cristobal Huet and David Aebischer between the pipes, but when Huet went down with an injury, it was the rookie Halak and not the veteran Aebischer who saved the Habs' season and brought them to Game 82 with a playoff berth on the line, with head coach Guy Carbonneau opting to play the rusty veteran Huet instead of the young gun, and the team ending up losing 6-5 to the Toronto Maple Leafs to miss the postseason. His Spring ended with a participation at the World Championships representing Team Slovakia, while the team he suited up the most often for during the season, the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs, went on to win the Calder Cup with fellow rookie Carey Price filling in for Halak in net.

The following season saw Price and Huet start the season in Montréal, but the experienced French tender getting traded to the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline and Halak getting called up to finish the year in the NHL; ironically, both Huet and Price got Vezina votes that year, but Huet finished ahead despite getting traded a month and a half before season's end. Price would hold the #1 job by default as the "resident NHLer" that year but struggled mightily in the playoffs, unable to carry the weight of the position: 2008-09 was more of the same, as GM Bob Gainey tried to force Carbonneau to use Price over Halak (52 games, 2.83 goals-against average versus 34 games, 2.86 GAA) despite Halak having a far superior save percentage (.915 to .905) and eye test result. Gainey ended up firing Carbo, who had a 35-24-7 record at the top of the Northeastern division while Gainey finished the year 6-6-4 to have the Habs finish second and get swept in the first round by the Boston Bruins, with Price in net and sporting a .878 save percentage and 4.11 GAA (Halak stopped all five shots he faced).

With Jacques Martin stepping in to coach for the 2009-10 season, Price's numbers (.912, 2.77 GAA) were once again short of Halak's (.924, 2.40 GAA), but the games played were still very similar (45 for Halak, 41 for Price), as the Habs made it to the playoffs by a hair; they faced off against Presidents Trophy winners Washinton (featuring Alexander Ovechkin) in the first round, and Halak stifled them to the tune of 45 (3-2 win), 31 (6-5 loss), 10 (pulled in a 5-1 loss), 37 (in a 2-1 win), 53 (in a 4-1 win) and 41 saves (in a 2-1 nailbiter of a Game 7). This prompted some Montealers to deface the city's stop signs as a tribute:

Then it was the reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins' turn, the team with future Hall Of Famers Sidney Crosby, Marc-André Fleury, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. And while the first game scared everyone in town (15 saves, 5 goals against in a 6-3 loss), the others fell in line with the Caps series' boxscores: 38 saves in a 3-1 win, 23 saves on 24 shots in a 2-0 loss, 33 saves in a 3-2 win, 23 saves in a 2-1 loss, 34 saves in a 4-3 win, and 37 saves in a 5-2 Game 7 clinic.

Unfortunately, the entire team had already run out of steam by the time the Philadelphia Flyers rolled around, and at that point so did Halak. Apart from a 25-save 5-1 win, the Habs lost the other four games by a 16-2 margin, getting shut out three times, ending the best postseason run by a Canadiens goalie since Patrick Roy's 1993 and 1986 Cup and Conn Smythe-winning runs.

With three straight regular seasons as the team's best goalie and an incredible playoff run, Habs management (Gainey, new GM Pierre Gauthier, and team president Pierre Boivin) opted to trade Halak over Price during that summer, thinking the former fifth-overall draft pick would eventually be the best suited to bring a Cup back to Montréal; in exchange for the Slovak, the Canadiens received third-line centre Lars Eller and a draft pick from the St. Louis Blues. This trade tree shows how Eller eventually led to the acquisition of Patrik Laine:

Some believe, however, that a trade return for Price may have landed a first-line player or a top-two defenseman instead of a third-rounder while still keeping a goalie who ended up having a similar stat line (.917 and 2.51 in 15 seasons versus .915 and 2.50 in 17 seasons, each with one Cup Final participation), and that such a return may have enabled Montréal to advance further in the playoffs more often, as acquiring offensive talent seems to have been an issue around Price's $10.5M cap hit in his final eight seasons.

In just four seasons with St. Louis, Halak won his first Jennings Trophy (alongside Brian Elliott), got Vezina votes, and managed to put up impressive statistics that show favourably among Blues alumni:

He also ranks third in save percentage, fourth in GAA, and ninth in total saves, on a list that includes Glenn Hall, Grant Fuhr, Curtis Joseph and Jordan Binnington. For a while, it also seemed he would get the first star whenever he was facing the Habs (and especially Price), cementing his reutation of excellence under pressure.

As his five-year contract was coming to an end, the Blues traded him to the Buffalo Sabres with Chris Stewart, William Carrier, a first-round pick in the 2015 draft that became Jack Roslovic and a third-round pick in the 2016 draft that became Linus Nassen, for the other best goalie of 2009-10, Ryan Miller, and Steve Ott. He wouldn't play for the Sabres but by backing up Jhonas Enroth on March 3rd, he became the 10th player in franchise history to suit up but not play a single second in a game for the team. He was quickly shipped off to Washington with a third-round pick in the 2015 draft (Robin Kovacs) for Rostislav Klesla and Michal Neuvirth, and proceeded to have a .930 save percentage and 2.30 GAA and one shutout in 12 games with the Caps, playing behind - and acting as playoff insurance for - Braden Holtby.

Hitting free agency, Halak quickly signed a four-year deal with the New York Islanders, bringing instant stability to the crease and even setting team records, notably beating Hall Of Famer Billy Smith's win records (38 vs 32) in his very first season, including posting a 1.16 GAA with a .948 save percentage during an 11-game win streak. He went 88-65-19, with a 2.69 GAA and a .913 SV% in 177 regular-season appearances for the Isles. he and goaltending partner Thomas Greiss would even remain a pair at the 2016 World Cup, suiting up for a Team Europe squad that finished second in the tournament, with Halak playing both Final games versus Team Canada, facing off against none other than Price. Price had identical 32-save performances playing for the powerhouse team that won 3-1 and 2-1 to sweep the best-of-three series, while Halak stopped 35 of 38 in the first game and 32 of 34 in the second, with Europe spending most of the final bottled in their own zone.

The Isles would pivot to Robin Lehner between the pipes for the 2018-19 season, with Barry Trotz replacing Doug Weight as head coach and with the legendary Mitch Korn taking over goaltending guru duties over Marc Champagne and Fred Brathwaite. All this movement led to Halak signing on as Tuukka Rask's backup with the Boston Bruins for three seasons, the first of which featured 40 games played, a 22-11-4 record, 4 shutouts, a .922 save percentage and 2.34 GAA, as well as a seven-game trip to the Stanley Cup Final. His 2019-20 season was even better, with an 18-6-6 record, .919 save percentage, 2.39 GAA and 3 shutouts in 31 games (and another Jennings Trophy for his mantle), as well as appearances in nine postseason games, including one in the Covid era-specific seeding round, three wins in three games versus the Carolina Hurricanes, and the entire Conference Final series against eventual Cup champions Tampa Bay Lightning. His final season in Boston was bizarre, with a three-goalie rotation between Rask, Halak and Jeremy Swayman, and Dan Vladar also suiting up in 5 of the 54 games for good measure; only Swayman looked good, and by the summer Halak signed on as the Vancouver Canucks' backup, which would be followed with one season of doing the same with the New York Rangers.

All told, Halak leaves the NHL with a 295-189-69 record, 53 shutouts, franchise records, the most exciting Conference Final run in recent memory, one Cup Final, a couple of Jennings trophies, and standing up to the Canadian team in international play. Not bad for a perennial underdog who was drafted in the ninth round in 2003.

He signed the picture atop this piece while playing for the Islanders. It shows him wearing the Blues' third jersey from the 2008-16 era. I wish him the best in retirement.