Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

St. Louis Blues introduce Jaroslav Halak, unveil two new goalie mask designs

It was a bit of a surprise when the St. Louis Blues shipped a couple prospects to the Montreal Canadiens to gain Jaroslav Halak’s restricted free agent bargaining rights, but it’s tough to blame the frequently goalie-challenged franchise for taking a swing at one of the breakout stars of the 2010 playoffs. Many people wonder if the longtime backup turned short time Habs savior will ever match those previous heights, but the Blues clearly are excited to have the Slovakian netminder aboard.

Here’s video of the team’s press conference introducing Halak to Blues fans and media.

While the PR-coached interviews and press conferences are a nice celebration of Halak’s arrival, you might also be interested to see what kind of mask he’ll wear next season. As it turns out, He will wear two different masks in 2010-11.

The first features the St. Louis skyline as well as some of the club’s best goalies: Jacques Plante, Mike Liut and Grant Fuhr (sorry Curtis Joseph). Here are some shots of that mask from the Blues Web site.

Image (1) sideshotskylinehalak-thumb-250x188-20089.jpg for post 15251

James O’Brien

(click to enlarge, othersideskylinehalak.JPG

(click to enlarge, photo from the Blues)

The second includes renderings of Halak’s favorite childhood cartoon, Lucky Luke (not to be confused with the “Lucky Luc” Robitaille). Here are some photos of the second mask from the Blues Web site and St. Louis Post-Dispatch beat writer Jeremy Rutherford.

Image (3) luckylukehalakmask-thumb-250x187-20096.jpg for post 15251

James O’Brien

(click to enlarge, luckylukehalakmask2rutherford.jpg

(click to enlarge, image via Jeremy Rutherford.)

I’m not sure if he’ll wear one mask more than the other or if he’ll rotate one for road games vs. home games, but they are both decent if not amazing designs. It’s always nice to pay tribute to the history of a franchise and Halak is wise to honor the Blues’ long history in the NHL.

If things go well, a future goalie’s mask might just feature an artist’s rendering of Halak himself.