TORONTO -- ?Jaroslav Halaks career path has not followed a straight line. No going directly from point A to point B. The netminders hockey journey has been more circuitous, with the odd sharp angle thrown in for good measure.But just when you are prepared to dismiss him, when a team is ready to turn in a different direction, Halak re-emerges, making everyone stop and take notice.Like now, for instance.Halak, who was not even guaranteed a job with Team Europe at the World Cup of Hockey, has backstopped the team to an unexpected berth in the finals against Canada.I dont think it surprised me, but Im pretty sure it surprised a lot of other people, offered Andrej Sekera, Halaks longtime friend and international teammate. I know Jaro personally very well and have played with him on international levels, and hes been as good as hes ever been. When hes on his game, hes happy, hes smiling, hes doing his job the best way he can -- and it shows on the ice.Hes one of the reasons where we are right now, the defenseman added. We just try to make his life easier -- and hes trying to make our lives easier.After an up-and-down 2015-16 season with the New York Islanders ended with a groin injury, Halak watched as understudy Thomas Greiss stepped in and helped lead the Islanders to their first playoff series victory since 1993.Greiss, Halak and new?Toronto Maple Leafs?goalie?Frederik Andersen were named to Team Europes roster, and it was fair to wonder where Halak would fit into the goaltending trilogy for the squad, which is made up of players from eight countries.More to the point, it was fair to wonder whether Halak would end up as the teams third goaltender, a spare part.Team Europe coach Ralph Krueger told his players their roles would be determined by how they performed in training camp and played in pretournament games. When it came to the goaltending, the decision became an easy one for Krueger. Andersen went down with injury before the start of the World Cup, and Greiss was terrible in a pretournament start against Team North America.By default or not, the job was Halaks.All hes done is lead Team Europe to the finals of a tournament in which few expected his team would even be a factor.I saw, over the past years, he grew as a goalie and he got better with age. And [in] the games that he played in this tournament, he showed what hes capable of, said Miroslav Satan, a longtime international teammate and now the GM of Team Europe. I think its the best Ive seen him. Hes definitely one of the cornerstones of our success, and the way we are succeeding in this tournament -- he definitely has a lot to do with that.Halak has an impressive .947 save percentage in the World Cup. And there is a strong belief in the Team Europe locker room that they are capable of much more.You got to believe in the player next to you that he will do the job, Halak said after the Europeans upended heavily favored Sweden in overtime in the semifinals. I think that brought us together. We all knew we had to play better and try to improve every game, and I think its been working well so far. Making the finals, its unreal. Its going to be a huge game for us.Hell have to be superhuman to give Europe a chance to beat Canada. But regardless of what happens in the finals, a best-of-three series that begins Tuesday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), this tournament has provided yet another opportunity for Halak to reassert himself as a world-class goaltender.He does have a history of being able to steal games, said longtime goaltender and goaltending coach Corey Hirsch, who worked with Halak in St. Louis. And this tournament is perfect for Halak. You can get him focused on a short amount of games, and he can just take the ball and run with it.Jaros a lot better when theres not a lot of pressure on him. When he gets pressured, things happen.Remember the circular part?When Halak steps onto the ice against Canada, hell see Carey Price?at the other end of the ice, and perhaps be reminded of one of those turns.Halak, a native of Bratislava, Slovakia, was taken in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL draft, 271st overall by the Montreal Canadiens. The league doesnt even have nine rounds in its draft anymore.But Halak eventually got a shot with Montreal, and in 2010 he played phenomenally for the Canadiens, leading them to a surprise berth in the Eastern Conference finals after upending the Presidents Trophy-winning?Washington Capitals?in the first round.He sported a .923 save percentage and fans started sporting T-shirts that featured a stop sign with Halaks name in the center.But the Habs had to make a decision on the future of their goaltending, and in spite of Halaks brilliance, they dealt him to St. Louis while Price went on to become not just the Canadiens starter but also the best goaltender in the world.Price will start for Canada on Tuesday night.Obviously, hes a pretty quiet guy, calm demeanor, lets the puck and the play come toward him, Price said of his old teammate. Those are a couple of things he does really well.Although Halak shared a William M. Jennings Trophy -- with the?St. Louis Blues?Brian Elliott -- for the fewest goals allowed during the regular season, a lack of durability and inability to get the job done in key moments led to Halak being dealt to the Capitals before signing with the Islanders.He is 31 and under contract for this year and next. By that time, it wouldnt be a surprise if the Islanders went in a different direction and Halak moved on again, fading from view.But in the here and now, Halak is front and center once again. Timothy Fosu-Mensah Jersey . There was no hesitation from the 40th-ranked Pospisil, from Vernon, B.C., who admitted that he cut back on his training sessions over the last few days to conserve energy as the long ATP season finishes next week at the Paris Masters. Victor Lindelof Manchester United Jersey . Ivanovic was leading 7-5, 1-0 when Hantuchova withdrew after falling 0-40 behind in the second game. The match started slowly for Ivanovic, who surrendered her first two serves as Hantuchova took a 5-3 lead. http://www.jerseymanchesterunitedsoccer.com/womens-nick-powell-manchester-united-jersey/ .Y. -- Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers had no intention of changing his hard-hitting style before taking part in a disciplinary hearing for his illegal check to New Jersey forward Dainius Zubrus head. Fred Jersey . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Andreas Pereira Jersey . Boucher previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a 97-78-20 record over two-plus seasons. He was dismissed by the team last March after the Lightning struggled in the lockout-shortened season with a 13-18-1 record. Watch, now that everyone has gone cold on the Columbus Blue Jackets after several years of overvaluing them, theyll prove all the detractors wrong and make the playoffs. Or maybe not.Still, its hard to get a read on the Blue Jackets, who looked like a team on the rise following their 2014 playoff berth but has had so much go wrong in the two seasons since. General manager Jarmo Kekalainen, given a contract extension this fall, surprised many by eschewing Finnish prospect Jesse Puljujarvi with the third overall pick at the 2016 draft and taking forward?Pierre-Luc Dubois?instead. I get the thought process behind the decision: Dubois can play center and, having traded franchise center Ryan Johansen to Nashville last January for Seth Jones, Columbus needed to fill that void.Still, it was a risk for a franchise that has fallen off the map the past couple of years. But its worth remembering that the Blue Jackets still have offensive depth, a young and mobile blue line, and a former Vezina Trophy winner in goal. How bad can they be?Biggest new facesGiven Columbus relatively quiet offseason, at least in terms of adding veteran players, Dubois is likely to be the biggest new face in the lineup -- but he may only be around for a while. As Kekalainen told us in a recent interview, the process of nurturing a young player like Dubois is a marathon, and were in the first mile. If Dubois stays with the Blue Jackets beyond nine games this season, hell play meaningful minutes.Jones isnt new, although this will be his first full season with the Blue Jackets. He likely will pair up with Ryan Murray as the teams top defensive unit.?Watch for rookie Zach Werenski, who is coming off a monster year with Columbus championship American Hockey League affiliate, to make an impact as the Blue Jackets try to inject speed and mobility to their blue-line corps.John Tortorella -- who took over for Todd Richards in Columbus last season after the Blue Jackets miserable 0-7 start ?-- is coming off a disappointing turn as head coach of Team USA at the World Cup of Hockey. But the upside was that the United States early exit allowed him more time at his first training camp with the Blue Jackets.Biggest unknownsThe Blue Jackets were a mess in their own zone -- and often in goal -- for the first part of last season, and theey never crawled out of that hole.dddddddddddd They finished 29th in goals allowed, but there should be an asterisk there, as netminder Sergei Bobrovsky once again was dragged down by injury and inconsistent play. He looked like a different player or, more to the point, like the old Bobrovsky of Vezina Trophy fame at the World Cup of Hockey. If hes that player, the Blue Jackets will be right in the mix. Its that simple.Can the remade blue line, which will rely heavily on Jones, Murray and Werenski, emulate what we saw out of the?Pittsburgh Penguins?last season, moving the puck quickly and smartly to a group of potentially explosive forwards? Assuming Dubois is the future franchise center, what does the present look like down the middle? Can Boone Jenner, a 30-goal scorer, fill the void as a No. 1 center? Can captain Nick Foligno regain the form that saw him register 31 goals and 73 points two years ago -- only to see those totals crumble last year to 12 goals and 37 points? And can Sam Gagner make a last career stand with the Blue Jackets?Sure thingsHmm. OK, were still thinking. Just kidding. The surest thing about Columbus is to expect the unexpected. As Kekalainen pointed out, if the Blue Jackets arent where they want to be, they cant blame the expectations, which are pretty much nil for this team to start the season.In terms of personnel, I continue to be so impressed with the evolution of Brandon Saad, who is entering his second season in Columbus after a shocking trade in the summer of 2015. Tortorella is going to ask Saad to do even more, including killing penalties -- which should help refine his two-way game. Saad is a two-time Stanley Cup winner who is coming off a 31-goal campaign and a team-best seven game-winning goals. This is about to become his team, and whether hes wearing a C or not, if the Blue Jackets are going to climb out of this rather sizeable pit, itll be Saad who leads them.PredictionSeriously, it wouldnt shock us all that much if the Blue Jackets become one of those Cinderella, worst-to-first kind of teams vying for a playoff spot next spring. But seeing is believing, especially with this team. Eighth in the Metropolitan Division. ' ' '