Music: {allcanada} Montreal Canadiens preview: Price needs to be right

There was a time when the faithful of the Montreal Canadiens beloved Carey Price almost as much as they adored Jaroslav Halak in his wonderful playoff run last spring.

After Price was chosen fifth overall in the 2005 NHL entry draft, he endeared himself to Habs supporters by steering Canada to the 2007 world junior title and five months later playing well in the Hamilton Bulldogs' successful Calder Cup campaign.

He followed up those two championships with a sound rookie season - 24 wins, .920 save percentage and 2.56 goals against average - only to fizzle in the second round of the 2008 playoffs against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Now, the 23-year-old Price has some making up to do after Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier traded Halak to the St. Louis Blues last summer in exchange for young forwards Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. The Canadiens have exhibited tremendous faith in Price and he has to repay that faith with a solid season. But he probably didn't help matters when he told Montreal fans to "relax, chill out" after a poor outing in his pre-season debut last week.

"He was right, the fans should chill out a bit. But in a situation like that the less said, the better. I always tell athletes if you focus on what people are saying about you, you just provoke more attention," said Dr. Saul Miller, a popular Vancouver-based sports psychologist and author of several books, including Hockey Tough: A Winning Mental Game and Performing Under Pressure: Gaining the Mental Edge in Business and Sportt.

Miller has worked with many hockey players, including goaltenders, on gaining a mental edge. If there is one goalie in the NHL right now who needs to be in the right frame of mind it is Price because of that pressure cooker atmosphere in Montreal.

Miller visited Montreal last spring when Halak was making his terrific run. He saw first hand the city's passion for the netminder. He saw the stop signs, in which the fans replaced arrêt with Halak.

"It was a surprising trade because of the tremendous success that Halak had in the past," Miller said. "There are a lot of things that we don't know. Mabye they could get more for Halak. Maybe there was something with the contract negotiations [both were restricted free agents]. But here is Price, a high first-round pick who is young but hasn't lived up to expectations. Halak stepped into that void. Now Price is back in that position.

"It's a very intense hockey market in Montreal as most Canadian markets are. But they love hockey in Montreal. They put a lot of pressure on their players. Nobody experiences more pressure than the goalie. As Jacques Plante once said 'Can you imagine a job in when every time you make a mistake a red light goes on and 15,000 people stand up and cheer?' That's pressure."

Miller was asked how he would advise Price. The good doctor believes that Price needs to be in great physical condition because goalies "have the longest shift of the game and deal with a tremendous amount of stress." The better physical condition a person is in allows him or her to deal with that stress.

Of course, a high skill level and technique also is important for success. But just as important will be Price's mental approach. He needs to focus on what he can control, like his emotions, his confidence and his attitude.

Off-season development - Were there any other than the Halak trade? All the 25-year-old did in Montreal was lead them to the East final with brilliant performances against Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals and Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first two rounds. In Montreal, Halak went 56-34-16 with a .919 save percentage and 2.62 goals against average in his time in Montreal. Price's stats are 60-48-22, .912 and 2.77.

Key player - Eller finds himself in a difficult spot. Of course, the 21-year-old Danish centre will be in the spotlight. He was taken 13th overall by St. Louis in 2007. He scored twice in seven games for the Blues last season and another 18 goals and 57 points for their farm team in Peoria. Eller is a two-way player, but he has big skates to fill on the third line. He replaces veteran Dominic Moore, who was a valuable addition in the playoffs for Montreal last year.

Telling stat - Montreal spends far too much time in their own end. The Canadiens not only surrendered the fifth most shots on goal per game at 32.1, they were among the league leaders in blocked shots with 1,344 or 16.4 a game.

Prognosis - The Canadiens raised expectations when they squeaked into the playoffs on the final weekend and then as the No. 8 seed made it all the way to the East final. Halak masked many of the Canadiens' shortcomings. Now they enter the season with several questions to be answered. Do they have enough depth up front? When will Andrei Markov return from his knee injury? Will Price find his form?

If healthy, the Habs should make the post-season. But don't expect them to return to the conference final, unless Price can channel his inner-Halak.