Halak needs more work, agent says

[Habsfan84]

At first glance, it would seem that the Canadiens are in great shape in goal for, say, the next decade.
The No. 1 guy is Carey Price, the can't-miss, first-round draft choice with the potential to be one of the greats.
To back him up, you have Jaroslav Halak, who has been the top goaltender in the American Hockey League for the past two seasons.

They have many productive years ahead of them because Price is 20 and Halak is 22. But therein lies the problem. They are ambitious young goaltenders who want to play and there may not be enough games to go around for the two of them.
Price has made it clear he wants to play as many games as possible. With the time and money the team has invested in him, he'll probably start at least 70 games a season.
Halak's agent, Montreal lawyer David Schatia, said that won't leave Halak enough games to be happy.
"The bottom line is that Jaroslav wants to play," Schatia said. "He won't be happy playing 15, 20 games a year."
Schatia said that there were three scenarios for Halak, who is a restricted free agent on July 1:
n He can accept the Habs' qualifying offer - a 10-per-cent raise on his salary of $500,000 - or negotiate a new deal.
n He can pursue employment in Europe.
n Or he can wait to see if another team signs him to an offer sheet.
"We can't say we want him to be guaranteed a certain number of starts because that has to be the coach's decision," Schatia said. "You never know what's going to happen. For example, there were injuries in Pittsburgh this year and Ty Conklin got a chance to play. But, as soon as (Marc-André) Fleury came back, he was the man again. And he should be."
Schatia quickly added he would have felt that way even if Fleury wasn't one of his clients.
Price said he has a good relationship with Halak and the two would be battling for ice time. But the pecking order seemed to be pretty well established after Cristobal Huet was traded to Washington and Price played 15 of the remaining 19 games in the regular season.
Halak said he plans to stay in the NHL, noting that he's young and Europe would still be there if things didn't work out in North America.
It might be in the Canadiens' best interests to consider Plan B. That would involve trading Halak and bringing in a veteran goaltender who would be agreeable to combine a mentoring role with an occasional start.
The patriot game: For some Habs, the season didn't end Saturday night. Six players have, or will join their respective national teams for the World Hockey Championship under way in Halifax and Quebec City.
Brothers Sergei and Andrei Kostitsyn and Mikhail Grabovski didn't waste any time, playing for Belarus against Switzerland yesterday. The Swiss won, 2-1.
Captain Saku Koivu will fill the same role as he joins brother Mikko on Team Finland.
Tomas Plekanec joins the Czech team tomorrow, but won't play until the qualifying round. Ditto for defenceman Andrei Markov, who's shaking off a variety of injuries to join Russia. He will not be joined by former Russian captain, Alex Kovalev. The Russians were already set at forward and will use the two extra spots available tomorrow to add defencemen Markov and Fedor Tyutin.

Halak needs more work, agent says