Canadiens had to trade Peter Budaj

Dustin Tokarksi.

By all accounts, Peter Budaj is genuinely one of the good guys. Everyone loves him, in the room, as they say in the hockey biz, and amongst the media hordes. But running a hockey team isn’t just about rewarding niceness. It’s ultimately about winning and there’s no doubt that the Montreal Canadiens are a better team with Dustin Tokarski as Carey Price’s back-up than with Budaj in that position.

So that’s why Budaj and minor-league forward Patrick Holland are headed to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for forward Eric Tangradi (eds. note: Who dat?).

As soon as Marc Bergevin and Michel Therrien made the call in the conference final last spring to go with Tokarski when Price was hurt by that maniac Kreider, Budaj was officially a lame duck. Imagine. You toil all year sitting on the bench watching Price play and then when opportunity knocks, management says – ‘Keep warming the bench cos we’re going with a kid who’s played like two games for us.’ This is not a vote of confidence. And apparently Budaj, normally an easy-going chap, was just livid. And you can understand why.

The other factor is that Tokarski would’ve had to pass waivers to be sent down to the Hamilton Bulldogs and it’s almost certain another team would’ve picked him up. Instead the Habs now have a quality back-up who can keep Pricey on his toes and I think this is a good thing for Carey now. Back in the Halak days, Price didn’t like the competition but he’s come a long way since and I think he’s secure enough now not to worry.

And you have a pretty amazing back-up goalie. If they had anything going on in that Rangers series, it was thanks to Tokarski’s heroics. So all good. (I promise my next post will be much less kind to les Canadiens!)

Oh longtime readers will note that i didn’t make one Halak-Price joke.