Thursday, January 10, 2008

Carey Takes His Lumps

Lots of ink is being spilled over the sending of Carey Price to Hamilton. It is in some ways surprising, and in others, somewhat expected. In light of recent performances in which the goalie, in my opinion, appeared rather lucid, this perceived setback might be just what the doctor ordered.

If your reaction to this news was the same as mine, your initial reflex was to question exactly what the heck was behind this unforeseen detour in the crowning of Price as goalie of the future.

I mean, three straight losses aren't Hell in a handbasket!

Admittedly, Price has been far from sharp of late, but this scenario was not in the cards. At least not yet.

This demotion, if one chooses to see it as such, could either be seen as a present lack of faith in Price, or simply as a careful handling of a precious jewel.

After first questioning the move as harsh, I considered the big picture.The Canadiens can ill afford to mess up on the best propect to come into the organization in eons. I'd rather they take cautious chances with him, over risky ones. The Habs organization surely knows Price better than anyone, and knows and understands what is needed by him in this trying time.

The reasons behind this unforeseen move may have to do with confidence, playing time, or in a worst case file, attitude tinkering and righting.

Evidently, the Canadiens organization saw Price slip some, and felt it neccessary to do something major about it. Since neither you or I know exactly what it was that brought this upon, I'll hedge my bets on thinking that those closer to the scene, know exactly what the situation required.

I'm not absolute in believing this comparison holds any water, but the demotion of Maxim Lapierre in October surely did not seem to zap the center of his spirit, intent and focus.What it rectified, we may not ever be priveledge to, but Max played one wicked game against the Hawks!

I questioned that decision at the time as well. I do not question it now.

May the same play out in Carey's case.

A Pair of Robert L notes: While researching some background into this story, I came upon Bertrand Raymond's column in Le Journal de Montreal. I have transcribed the piece here for those who wish to check it out.

On a personal note, this blog has, and may continue, to suffer from a slight bit of irregularity in coming days. With apologies to my regular readers, Eyes On The Prize postings may be slim for another stretch. I thank you in advance for your patience.

Two colliding reasons for the sparingly posted blogs here lately are the fact that I have updated to a newer comp - which is wicked lightning fast compared to my old dinosaur - and that my daughter's hockey schedule is into the thick of the season. Practices and games have been the order of the day on a daily basis.

Although I anticipated the crash of my old donkey in the quicksand computer - the timing sucked! Not only did three Habs stories die with the old machine, all my files were not initially transferable to the new system. Stories I have been engaged in are dead for now, until I can discover the intricacies of transfering hard drive files to this newer comp.

In all this morass, I have lost Wordpad files on the final entry in the Habs / Leafs players series, as well as an article for my local paper - on my daughter Pokecheck's unbelievable 8 goal game!

Yes, ouch! Such is life!

To make matters only more painful, Dave Stubbs of Habs Inside Out called upon me, needing some assistance with a posting while I was in this straightjacket mode, and I could not help him out. Onto the next Haley's Comet!

So, bare with me fellow readers, as GM's always say, it's a long season.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Rob,

I don't personally understand the uproar over Price being sent to the Bulldogs. The main goal an organization should have with a 20yo goalie such as Price is to give him best possible scenario for his development. I was unsure about sending him to the NHL at first, but he showed that he wasn't far from being an NHL goalie. He has NHL experience now and what he needs is to implement and practice his newfound knowledge. That's best done with the Bulldogs. The Habs spread out schedule and his losing streak gives them an avenue to send him down without a (greater) uproar from the press. I think the Habs, Price, and consequently, the fans, got lucky as this is the best thing that could have happened.

btw - congrats to your daughter on the 8-goal game - her middle name must be Mauricia. Have fun watching her games and good luck to her. This reader will still be here.

cheers,
Sam L.

Robert L said...

Sam - You're right, the timing makes the decision make sense.

The uproar of some may come from the insinuations that the team was not happy with his work habits - something we may not know for sure.

My kid was lucky to be facing a goalie so new to the position she was scared of her shot. Only in Pee Wee! Fun nonetheless!

Cheers!

Unknown said...

Robert,

I'm a regular reader and a computer technician. If you want some help with setting up those hard drives or the transferring of your files, let me know and i'll help you out.

You can reach me at vercingeterix at gmail dot com.

Robert L said...

Thanks Mineral

I very much appreciate your offer of help. If I get stuck I will drop you a line. I know what needs to be done, I just cannot do it from home at the time. I have someone on it who is busy transfering old files from the drive to disk for me.

Thanks again - Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Hi Robert,
I think you're right about the Price move, but I was disappointed as well. Price had time to see the league and get socially orientated. Now he has to get his game together, and in junior his teams always went into a 'weaker' period during the season. Carbo has faith in Huet, and will go with Huet. A young man does not need to sit, he will get into trouble. Price needs to play, Halek is able to play, and Danis isn't grabbing chances to play. Huet's agent will have let the team know his intentions for next year and the goalie is prone to injuries, much like Hasek was/is.

When you look at it the decision makes sense just on those factors alone. When he comes up I think he'll be seeing a lot more time, he better be ready to go, and not looking be around.

Gary

Robert L said...

Gary - Very wise observations that I believe will prove you right.

I just hope that if he performs as is hoped down there, that his stint is a short one.

One another note, I'll be screaming Chipchura's nameso Gainey can hear it time Smolinski takes a washed up step!

Anonymous said...

Robert,
I don't know what's with Smolinski, he can play big, but it doesn't seem to be there this year. His heart might be with another sweater.

Chipchura? He has character and skill he doesn't realize. Every game he's better, faster, learning. At 9-12 minutes a game, in a checking roll, killing penalties, he is 11% shooting, usually from the crowd where others are knocked onto their bottoms. A lot of fans are sure Chips is a potential 3rd or 4th line center. I think this man might surprise a lot of people. Seeing as he is following a path very close to that Pleks was sent on, well who knows :-)

Gary