I can understand why he did it, but you are right he is gambling on this one.
His rationale was that he had no intention of keeping Huet longterm over Halak. I think he realized that next year he was going with Price/Halak and that in all likelihood the Habs will not go deep in this years playoffs so give the kids the experience that will help them for next year.
The only way the Habs can do damage is if they get amazing goaltending and Huet will give you at best steady goaltending, not amazing and certainly not under pressure. Huet would not carry this team in the playoffs.
In terms of playoff experience Huet has all of 6 games compared to Price's 0 Nhl games and about 20 AHL games.
Huet always seems to hit a wall at about the 40 games played mark, starts going down early and swimming on his knees.
As a Habs fan I feel more comfortable with Price in the net than Huet. After Huet gets scored on in a game he is less effective and the second goal comes quick- seems to lose focus.
So yes I understand Gainey's decision, however were I in is place i would have forgone the 2nd round pick and kept Huet as insurance knowing I was going to let him walk as a UFA.
As to the comparisons to Patrick Roy or Wade Flaherty and co, forget it Price is Price not someone else. We will see what he can do, from what i see of his personality he is not the type to be ruined by failure. he played for Tri-City that barely won a game his first year as a starter.