Three-keeper rotation: you can’t trust the goalkeepers at Laval

As long as the Canadiens have three goalkeepers in their 23-man roster, the situation will be the talk of the town.

Although the situation is not popular, Kent Hughes currently finds himself in an awkward position. He doesn’t want to lose Cayden Primeau to the waivers, and the team’s depth in front of net is rather limited, at least for this year.

Renaud Lavoie mentioned it in his morning column on BPM Sports: Laval goalies are hard, very hard. Jakub Dobes doesn’t deserve a recall, and Strauss Mann can’t be recalled because of his contract.

So, if Primeau were to be called up to the waivers (if he were) and Jake Allen got injured, who would come to Montreal? It’s not a nonchalant Dobes, who has terrible stats in the AHL, who’s going to take over. In fact, in yesterday’s Rocket victory, Dobes was pulled after allowing four goals on 14 shots.

Mann did well, but then again, he signed a contract limiting him to the AHL… What about the organization’s other goalies? Yevgeni Volokhin is in Russia, Jacob Fowler and Emmett Croteau are in university, Quentin Miller is in junior and Joe Vrbetic is in the ECHL. You might as well forget about them.

Unlike the goalkeepers below, the goalkeepers above are playing well. All three have averages above .900. In the case of the two youngest, their goals-against averages are below three. They’re not to blame.

The rotation is going to have to settle down some day.

Does it involve the possible Samuel Montembeault contract? Lavoie thinks so.

Primeau will, in fact, have the chance to make his mark tonight. The young American will face the NHL’s second-best team, the Vegas Golden Knights. With a good performance, I’m sure Kent Hughes would be pleased.

The GM is probably busy on the phone right now. He’s certainly the first to want to put an end to this three-goal rotation, which, I repeat, pleases no one.

What the Habs need is a goalie who can shuttle between the NHL and the AHL without going through the waivers. Louis Domingue, for example… At the start of the year, the Quebecer was placed in the waivers and went unclaimed.

I wouldn’t wish an injury on anyone, but in the event of a problem with Allen, who is frequently injured, Domingue could be an excellent insurance policy. However, don’t expect to see Primeau traded for him. The two general managers don’t want that.

On the one hand, Hughes certainly sees a future for Primeau in Montreal, and in New York, Chris Drury doesn’t want a three-goalie rotation. In any case, there’s no shortage of goalkeepers in the Big Apple. In the NHL and AHL, there are six goalies, three of whom are under contract for the 2024-2025 season.

In any case, Lavoie believes that it will be essential for Montreal to acquire a goaltender via the autonomy or transaction markets. And that brings us back to the point he made at the start of this text: Dobes doesn’t deserve to play up top, and no other goaltender can fill his shoes.

In closing, I’d like to remind you that the development of goaltenders takes place much later than that of other positions. Look at Charlie Lindgren, for example, in Washington…

And we’re starting to see a nice progression in the game of Cayden Primeau (24).

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