Alot is being said about the goaltenders in Montreal in the media. Will one get traded? When? For who/what? Which one?….etc.

This morning I read this great article on The Hockey News site titled “Top Shelf: Re-packaging the 1-2 goalie punch“.

The author (Ryan Dixon) mentions that there is another team doing a very similar thing that is going on with the Habs as of late. That is, each goaltender has played a substantial number of games.

You see, the Nashville Predators have been playing both Pekka Rinne and Dan Ellis a fair bit. Rinne has played 28 games and Ellis 20. Their stats are also quite similar:

Nashville Predators
Pekka Rinne – 28 games – 2.74 GAA – .906 S%
Dan Ellis –  20 games – 2.75 GAA – .910 S%

It’s quite similar to what’s going on in Montreal between Price and Halak statistically:

Montreal Canadiens
Carey Price – 29 games – 2.67 GAA – .915 S%
Jaroslav Halak – 18 games – 2.64 GAA – .922 S%

Just like the article mentions, if we go back to the days of Patrick Roy he played with Brian Hayward alot. In fact in Roy’s first 4 full seasons in Montreal (85-86 to 88-89) he never played more then 48 games.

Alot has changed since those days of course. I’m not sure if all the money might have influenced more of the battle to be a “number 1″ on a team. I mean, I know athletes are competitive but when you lay the chips down hockey is a team sport and if I put my “fan-gm” hat on for a minute…. it’s much better for a team and for an organization to have 2 strong goaltenders instead of having a “number 1″ and a “backup”.

Food for thought this morning.

Here are the game highlights from the Montreal Canadiens vs Nashville Predators, played on November 14th 2009.

The Canadiens lost this game 2-0… Carey Price stood on his head and Steve Sullivan (who scored both Nashville goals) had 11 shots on goal against Price.

You can also find other game stats here:

Game Summary

Event Summary

Facoffs Report

Full play by play

TOI Predators

TOI Canadiens

Roster Report

Shot Report

Had heard the reports that Francis Bouillon had signed a tryout contract with the Nashville Predators earlier during training camp.

Well, it was officially announced by the Predators on their website yesterday that Francis has signed a 1 year deal with them.

The Predators are getting a tough as nails d-man in Francis who will give his all for their team and won’t back down from anyone despite his small frame.

Best wishes to you Francis!

(You can read the Predators press release here)

So the habs win again. Despite key injuries to Koivu, Tanguay and Higgins… the habs keep it rolling.