Rumors Fly Around Washington Capitals’ Jaroslav Halak

The most interesting thing about the Internet is that anything can be put out there and immediately be seen as truth. There are numerous online posts circulating about Washington Capitals goaltender, Jaroslav Halak, regarding his not playing against his former team, the St. Louis Blues. The media jumped onto the frenzied bandwagon and sensationalized a non-story to make Halak out to be less than loyal to his current team.

In an article posted on Puck Daddy, Jaroslav Halak asks out of start vs. St. Louis Blues, former teammates, writer Greg Wyshynski states, “it should not be too surprising that Jaroslav Halak asked Washington Capitals coach Adam Oates not to play him against his former team, the St. Louis Blues…” Wyshynski goes on to state that Halak is “admitting that he’d harm the Capitals’ changes of winning this game if he started.” It has always been my belief to gather all of the facts prior to blowing something so nominal out of proportion.

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Here is the full statement made by Capitals head coach Adam Oates. Oates’ full comments, for the record: “We know the feelings when you go into your old stomping ground and it’s not always easy and you’re not always comfortable, at least the first time. We talked to [Halak] and he just wasn’t 100 percent comfortable. Unfortunately this time of year and where we’re at, we can’t afford that and Holts has played great lately. We feel really good about that and Holts is playing.”

This is not an unusual occurrence in regards to a goaltender facing their former team for the first time. St. Louis Blues’ Ryan Miller did play when his former team, the Buffalo Sabres, came into St. Louis. Common sense tells us that a goaltender’s former team knows too much about the mental preparedness and the physical pitfalls of their game. So why is Halak sitting out of the St. Louis Blues game such a big deal? It is not. The big deal is that the media blew it up and made Halak out to be an unstable head case.

Halak has had his fair share of melt downs, but then again, find a NHL goaltender that has never had a melt down. For the media to persecute him, I felt it was uncalled for. Halak is a strong goaltender and I still stand behind my opinion about the intelligence of the Ryan Miller/Steve Ott and Jaroslav Halak/Chris Stewart trade. It was not the best move that Blues’ General Manager, Doug Armstrong, has made in recent history.

I am proud of Halak for standing up and saying that he never asked to be removed from the line-up against the Blues. In an article for the Washington Post, Jaroslav Halak’s agent ‘bewildered’ Adam Oates broke trust between player, coach, Halak’s agent, Allan Walsh, spoke up and defended his client. Even if comments given to the media were twisted and the internet being what it is blew the story out of the water, there is a thing called trust that must exist between a player and coach. By Oates admitting that Halak was not “100 percent comfortable”, he divulged a private conversation and probably made Halak a little more wary of going to him. This situation could cause hard feelings between the two and make Halak’s stay in Washington short-lived.