Going right to the source

In my constant attempt to find a goaltending controversy (there, I said it), I headed over to Brossard today to ask the man himself, Carey Price, what he thought on the subject.

Here's my story on what he had to say, with the best quote being:

“He’s on a streak right now. He’s been playing well, so he deserves his playing time.”

That's the official, non-opinionated version I had to produce for CP. But while Price's lips were moving and all the right words were coming out, his body language today was a whole other story. Before I go on, I should say that at the best of times Price is not Mr. Jolly with reporters, but today I got a real sense that he was annoyed and somewhat frustrated with the situation.

That doesn't mean he was insincere in what he said, I believe he actually does think all that stuff about thinking of the team first while it's winning games. But at the same time, he ain't no stinkin' backup, and I couldn't help but feel that was the thought running through his mind.

I don't know that for a fact, it's just an impression I had. But aside from that, the main player in my imagined goaltending controversy says he doesn't think there is one, so I should cease and desist.

"It’s still early in the year, we still have a lot of time, there’s not any rush," Price said. "The guys are playing well right now so we can’t really change things up. I just need to keep working and just wait for my time."

We'll see if he thinks the same thing if, somehow, he doesn't get the start Saturday against Toronto, or even Friday in Chicago should Halak lose in Pittsburgh (yes, I'm assuming Martin will name Halak the starter. Do any of you think differently?)

On that note, a good friend of mine and regular reader of the blog called me up today to point out some research he did recently, simply because he was growing tired of my continued insistence on the existence of some sort of controversy. He looked up the number of games Patrick Roy played per season early in his career, and he averaged just over 48 games played per year from Year 2 of his career to Year 6.

Brian Hayward, in his four years in a Habs uniform, averaged just over 35 games played per season, and that relationship worked out just fine, so maybe this one can as well.

I've had a ridiculously long day, so I'll leave you with this. Mike Cammalleri was being asked after practice about whether he was surprised with the play of Glen Metropolit, who was kept away from the practice rink today so he could tend to his flu, though he was supposed to take the flight with his teammates to Pittsburgh this afternoon.

Cammalleri played with Metropolit on the 2006 Canadian world championships team, a year when Metropolit was playing in Lugano of the Swiss Elite League. Cammalleri says when he saw Metropolit play, it instantly reminded him of his L.A. Kings teammate at the time Derek Armstrong.

"Maybe he’s not the fastest guy, maybe he’s not the biggest guy, maybe he wasn’t a top pick so he doesn’t really get the opportunities that other guys got to play at this level," Cammalleri said. "But when you get on the ice with them and they’ve got the puck on their stick and they have to make the play, they make the play. Metro’s that guy, so it doesn’t really surprise me. But I also saw him earlier and joked with him that he's on pace to get 100 (points). If he gets 100, that will surprise me."

That's the best description of Metropolit's game I've heard to date. He simply gets it done.