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Carey Price About To Own Important Habs Record, Habs Acquire H Shinkaruk |
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Carey Price On Track To Own Important Habs Record, Habs Acquire Shinkaruk from CGY
With the Habs first official game this October there is a clear divide in what Habs fans expectations are. Some are a bit more hopefully that a bounce back year by some vets and some positive progression by the many young players on the roster will amount to a better season and possibly a Wild Card playoff spot.
Some are a bit more inclined to believe the Habs should be dealing the vets like Pacioretty, Weber, and Price to go into a full scale bottoming out for another top C in this years draft and try to bring in multiple King’s Ransoms for said vets.
Both ideas have a logical base, both ideas are certain to be difficult to execute perfectly.
For me, I’m of the bounce back mindset part of the fan base. I believe players like Price and Weber are rare to have and shouldn’t be tossed out the window in an attempt to lose. It’s a strategy that other teams have tried but very few have succeeded at emerging from with the goal they wanted, within the timeframe they wanted.
With this upcoming season looking like it could go either way depending on the play of Price and the date that Weber returns, I think it’s important to remember that Carey Price is on the verge of practically owning the Canadiens goaltending record books this season.
Carey Price The Legend
This year could be the season we witness Price take over the top spot in Wins as a Montreal Canadiens goaltender.
Price currently sits at 3rd place on that list with 286 wins just behind Patrick Roy’s 289 W’s and Jacques Plante’s 314 W’s. A mere 29 win season puts Carey Price atop the Canadiens All Time Wins list in addition to already being 1st in: Games Played (558), Shots Against (16,545), Saves (15,194), and Losses (201).
There are two more Canadiens goaltending records that he could get this season as well.
Carey is also likely to take over top spot from Patrick Roy in Goals Allowed as he sits about one seasons worth of goals out of the spot. Roy allowed 1,476 goals as a Habs and Price is almost there at 1,351.
After that it’s another one of Plante’s records that stands to fall in the category of Minutes Played. Price’s 32,908 are roughly 6 full games behind Plante’s 33,223 minutes played and will be the first record Carey Price takes this upcoming season.
As much as some want to express their distain for the way the Habs previous season went, you cannot deny that you are watching a Habs Legend in real time. Make sure you show some appreciation to the Western Canadian boy who came East and is arguably the best Canadiens goaltender of all time, with all due respect to Plante, Dryden, and Roy.
The only thing Price needs to truly be the best Hab Goaltender of all time is a Stanley Cup. I’ll keep praying to the Hockey Gods that he gets that while wearing the CH as well…
Canadiens Summer of Change Continues… Habs acquire Hunter Shinkaruk for recently acquired Kerby Rychel.
The Plekanec trade with the Maple Leafs is the gift that keeps on giving. Not only did the Canadiens acquire an NHL ready D man in Valiev and a 2nd round pick that ended up being a steal in the talented, large, two way Center Jacob Olofsson but they turned what ended up being the weakest part of the return in Kerby Rychel into the 23 year old Hunter Shinkaruk in a trade today with the Calgary Flames.
Both players were former first round picks and were thought to have large upside but haven’t really realized that yet at the NHL level.
I will say that I like this trade for Montreal for a couple different reasons.
As a life long Windsor/Essex county resident I know of what Warren Rychel has done for the community and team as owner and GM and for that I was grateful. I was also friends with someone who’s son was on the team at the same time as Kerby. I took in a lot of games myself. I know what any dad who owned a hockey team would do for his kid in providing the best chance to succeed. I saw this first hand and I’m sure others in many junior markets saw perhaps similar preferential treatment of players over others.
I’m not saying Kerby Rychel isn’t talented, but I know that I saw players I thought were quicker and also skilled sit on the fourth line with no PP time while Rychel’s lack of speed has been a constant knock since his junior days.
When the Habs acquired him from the Leafs, joining his 3rd team in 3 seasons, I wasn’t really sure he would be an NHL player. I admittedly had a bias since I followed the Spits and felt like Rychel was a bit of a beneficiary of some preferential treatment and that just lowered my hype level on him.
The newly acquired Shinkaruk is in a somewhat similar boat as Rychel at this stage in his career. Both players are 23 year old RFA’s who had put up good junior numbers and have been stuck in the AHL since turning pro.
However, Rychel is now heading to his 4th organization in 4 years looking to prove himself and this trade shows the Flames had decided to give up on the talented battler in Shinkaruk for a project in Rychel. Shinkaruk was originally drafted to much fanfare by the Vancouver Canucks organization before being dealt to Calgary during the 15-16 season.
Shinkaruk had 1 whole game of NHL experience with the Canucks that season but was having a great AHL campaign in Utica with 21 G and 18 A in 45 games before the Canucks cashed him out and sent him to the Flames for current NHL F Markus Granlund.
Hunter got 7 games with the Flames that year scoring twice and adding an assist but he spent the majority of his time with the Flames AHL squad in Stockton scoring 6 G and 6 A in 15 games.
The 16-17 season saw another 7 game stint with the Flames with only 1 A to show for it while scoring 15 G and 20 A in 52 games in the AHL. Last season was spent entirely in Stockton and Shinkaruk scored only 17 G and 15 A in 63 games, setting up his eventual trade as an RFA to the Habs today.
I feel that Shinkaruk has plenty of talent and plenty of tenacity, something that it appears the Canadiens are looking to bring in lately. I’m sure the attitude jokes will fly but players that have skill and a high battle level are players you want on your team at any time. There’s a strong possibility that Shinkaruk could force his way onto the Habs roster this fall in a C or W capacity, likely bottom 6, and he will work his ass off to keep it.
Rolling skill with sand paper on all 4 lines could help the Habs stay afloat until Weber returns to stabilize the D core. After that the Canadiens could surprise in my humble opinion, although admittedly a quite optimistic one.
Don’t sleep on Shinkaruk, the Flames haven’t exactly been known to make all the right moves. As a current Calgarian it pains me to say that as I do like them and this city, but for the great moves they’ve made they have also made some that bring big question marks.
To me, Shinkaruk is a player in need of a shot and Montreal can give that to him. At worst, he’s a top notch AHL player for Laval who will take a call up with the appropriate level of seriousness.
Good deal Montreal.
Lastly, I appreciate the patience from Hockey Buzz and it’s readers as I’ve finished up this latest family move. We finally found a home (albeit with extremely difficult to deal with sellers) that we wanted, acquired, and moved into. I also had to help my mother finish her cross country move to Calgary this past weekend, one week after my move. I can safely say my calves are dire need of a rest!
I appreciate the support from everyone as well that has reached out to me and gave me a bit of positivity through the entire process as it did have its fair share of ups and downs. As someone who is diagnosed with cumulative PTSD and is forced to change careers mid way through my working career it’s been difficult to manage my responses and cope with multiple difficulties thrown my way. I’ve had many sleepless nights the last 3 weeks or so and most days feel like I’m running on empty.
I am grateful though for what I have. I am grateful for my family’s support and I hope with finally securing the new Smillie Manor as a home base I can resume to positive arc I was having in managing my PTSD. I hope to go back to focusing on the positive as much as I can and prepare for entering the next chapter of my life in Calgary, AB.
Thanks for reading.
Go Habs Go.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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