Blues need big year from Halak

After acquiring goaltender Jaroslav Halak from the Montreal Canadiens in the 2010 offseason, it looked like the St. Louis Blues had everything in place to return to the postseason. Unfortunately, the team ran into bad luck with injuries as well as some somewhat inconsistent goaltending from the man they thought would turn everything around and get the Blues back into the playoffs.

Earlier this week on NHL Home Ice, Blues GM Doug Armstrong said that if Halak can get his stats into the top 5 or 10 in the major goaltending categories this season, then the Blues should have no problem getting into the playoffs. Armstrong followed that up by saying if Halak does more than that, the Blues should be one of the top teams in the Western Conference.

Halak was not terrible last year. He went 27-21-7 with a 2.48 goals-against average, a .910 save percentage and 7 shutouts. Those numbers were not terrible by any means. In fact, Halak fell into the 20 many of the major goaltending categories, which is solid for a 26-year-old netminder who was in his first year of duty as a full-time starting netminder in the NHL.

The problem Halak ran into was inconsistency. In his first eight starts, Halak went 6-1-1 with a miniscule 1.71 goals-against average; in his final 10 starts, he posted a 5-3-1 record and 2.29 goals-against. In his other 39 starts, Halak went 11-16-5 with a 3.01 GAA.

What Armstrong is asking from Halak is to be good and consistent every night. Armstrong said he is not looking for Halak to be Superman, but for a goaltender that stops the puck on a consistent basis and gives the team a chance to win every single night.

If the team stays healthy and gets the goaltending they need from Halak, the Blues will be an extremely dangerous club in the Western Conference this season.

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