Jaroslav Halak's Agent Starts Twitter Controversy

Controversy with the Montreal Canadiens is nothing new, and the next chapter seems to have begun with a tweet last night after the Hab’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. After Carey Price took the 3-1 loss, stopping 18 shots, Allan Walsh, agent for fellow Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak, fired up his twitter account and had this to say via the micro blogging site.

 "Interesting stat of the night....Price is 10W, 32L in last 42 starts. Hmm." Normally this type of criticism is at home in the town where hockey is the heartbeat, but when it comes from the agent of the supposed backup who seems to be pushing the highly-touted Price for minutes, it’s hard for the masses to ignore.

Price has struggled with consistency thus far, going 3-7 while Halak has proved to be the more reliable of the pair ,posting five wins in seven appearances.  Walsh immediately found himself in hot water with Habs fans and the media as well, even infuriating former goaltender Kelly Hrudey on Hockey Night in Canada, responding to the tweet saying:

“"It makes me sick. I hate it and I'll tell you why. I have no problem with an agent sticking up for his client and telling management and whomever that this is what I think about my guy, the team and the direction and all that, but to make that public really annoys me."

Hrudey continued, "If I'm Carey Price, that's already starting a fight between me and the other guy. I would actually go to the goalie the next day and say 'You know what? Tell your agent to shut up!' You know what, we have to work together in this whole thing and we do need competition and we have to battle through this but don't start doing that. Don't pit us against each other. Don't make a separation between the two of us that are in this together. That annoys me!"

In an attempt to douse the flames, Walsh later responded, "It was a tongue-in-cheek comment not meant to be taken seriously, forgot it was Montreal and everyone loses a sense of humor."

Next time he’ll have to remember that in Montreal, hockey is no laughing matter.