Jaroslav Halak: Can We Please Drop The Drama?

Way back in May, when Brian Elliott was playing solid hockey and giving absolutely no one any reason to not start him, Jaroslav Halak and Ken Hitchcock had a little tift about starting time, amongst other things. Halak wanted it, Hitch said no, and WWIII erupted.

Hold up a second, it didn't. It just seemed to erupt among people who were getting bored writing about the fact that the Blues couldn't hit the broad side of a barn during the playoffs, so hey, why not write about something exciting? Sure, the argument happened and sure, Halak should have realized that there was no way in hell he was getting played over Elliott - and that with his injury issues this past season, starting Allen instead was best for the team. Neither Halak nor Ken Hitchcock commented on the issue, and it probably should have died there.

It didn't, though. Fans read reports of Halak's irritation, his "half-assing" it in practices (which could have been because he didn't want to aggravate an already touchy groin, and various and sundry things from anonymous sources.

The sources could be 110% right; Halak could have been a petulant slacker. That isn't the point about all of this... the point about this quick post is that the whole issue is being re-hashed because there's nothing else to talk about right now. Ahh, summer. The Blues have a log-jam at goal. They have a starter who wasn't happy at the time, talked to the coach, and seemed to work stuff out. They have a months-old drama that may not have been a drama to start with, and then it's trotted back out again in the midst of free-agency.

If the Blues need to trade Halak, this may not help. If they want to show Halak that they have confidence in him as the starter, this may not help. "Hey, remember that one time that you and Hitch got into a heated private conversation that we al nitpicked to death? Well, we're going to start talking about that again in the middle of July."

I get that we need stuff to talk about. I get that controversy is fun and wagging tongues is the sports' world favorite pastime. But the Blues have an actual goaltending issue that needs to be resolved, and these kinds of things don't help the situation.

It's almost enough to make me wish for stats to just tell me what to want for the franchise. Something tangible... something... like this.