Halverson sucks. He won dozens of games straight games for a dominant Junior team and people read a report that said that he has great stickhandling skills, so let's address both.
1) When his team was winning every game, his GAA and SV% were still pretty average. Playing behind a bad team you face broken down defensive plays results in fast breaks, up close shots, etc. Playing behind a dominant team, you tend to face almost exclusively bad angle, easy shots. Since the NHL has so much parity, you don't see it there very much (just as you do not see NHL teams win dozens of games in a row), but you certainly see it at lower levels. Halverson should've had amazing stats behind such a strong team, and when he did not, I predicted correctly that he will be in the ECHL. Next season he stayed in the Juniors and behind a more average team, he put up terrible stats for a guy in his final year of eligibility. In his rookie pro season, he hit 3.43 and 0.897%, which only came as a surprise if you didn't know how to analyze what he did in the Juniors.
2) He has amazing stickhandling abilities. Fine. How did he slip to the end of round 2 then? If two players are equal at stopping the puck and one has better stickhandling, he goes higher, right? If they go the same, which one is better at stopping the puck? Basic logic here. Now, if I have to choose between stickhandling and stopping the puck, which skill do you think I should go for? So from the minute he was drafted, I didn't like this pick because it means we sacrificed a necessary skill for a nice, but unnecessary bonus. We've had plenty of goalies who can't handle the puck who were great (Lundqvist, even more so Richter), but if you can't catch the puck, stickhandling won't help you much. As the years went by, this analysis was proven accurate.
3) Other than quitting late last season in disgust because the Pack sucked so bad, I've been watching most Hartford games for years. Anyone who reads the Pack thread knows this, as I give info (play by play, instant injury updates, etc) about the Pack not available anywhere unless you're watching the game. Halverson is bad. He does not have NHL starter potential. Maybe if he works on his game a ton, he can make a career for himself as an NHL backup, which would make him a millionaire, but having a dime-a-dozen backup means nothing to us.