38-year-old goaltender Jaroslav Halak has still not reached an agreement in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the 2023-2024 season.
The free agent has revealed he’s keen to be sure he’s at least the second best goalie on a team before accepting a contract.
“I don’t want to be the third goalkeeper anymore. That’s why I’m looking at clubs where I could be the substitute. My ideal scenario would be a tandem 1A and 1B, but it will be difficult,” Halak said in an interview with sport.sk.
Last year, the former Montreal Canadiens played for the New York Rangers. He was 10-9-5 with a .903 save percentage and 2.72 goals against average in 25 games.
Halak thought he had done enough to stay with the blue shirts, but the blue shirts decided to take a different route.
“First they told me that they were interested in a contract extension. However, they decided to offer Jonathan Quick a contract. It’s a business that I’ve seen a number of times,” said the veteran.
Halak also said he expects to land a new contract within the next two weeks and that the 2023-2024 season could be his last in the NHL.
The Slovakian has 581 games on the Bettman Circuit and has also played for the St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals, New York Islanders, Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks. He’s also five wins away from the prestigious 300 win plateau.
“What matters is the success of the team. However, I believe that five wins are possible this season. It would be a great satisfaction.”
Good words for Slafkovsky
Halak was also asked about the contingent of young Slovaks recently drafted in the early rounds of the final repechage.
“It’s great that we have such good young hockey players,” he said. It’s one thing to get drafted, but it’s another to establish yourself in the NHL. I’m glad a lot of our guys got picked early. However, we must continue to work with young people.”
Photo credit: Martin Chevalier / JdeM
At the 2022 amateur auction, Canadian Juraj Slafkovsky made it the first athlete ever to hear his name. Halak believes he has what it takes to succeed.
“He’s still very young, but he’ll be stronger and faster. I believe that next year will be a turning point for him and he will have a great career.”
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