Montreal Canadiens: Antti Niemi deserves more starts

Antti Niemi has been one of the few surprises for the Montreal Canadiens this season and has earned the right to start more as the second half continues.

No one called Victor Mete making the Montreal Canadiens out of camp this season and be an effective defenceman for the team. When Marc Bergevin traded Nicolas Deslauriers for Zach Redmond, we all looked to our neighbours with a blank expression and shrugged our shoulders not thinking it would be anything. However, he stuck to his word and made it difficult for the Habs to ever take the jersey off of him being one of the team’s most consistent forwards.

We can put Daniel Carr into the same boat considering the start that he had after being called up from the Laval Rocket. However, there’s been one more surprise this season, and it may or may not be the biggest, and that’s Antti Niemi.

Remember when the Habs originally claimed him off waivers? The dark cloud of cynicism around the team and the fanbase had a field day with that one. A lot of people were skeptical of what he could do, myself included.

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It was an unfair assumption, but considering Niemi’s performance with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers, who could blame anyone? His numbers with the Panthers were bad (.872 save percentage), and his numbers with the Penguins were worse (.797 save percentage).

The eye test wasn’t any better for Niemi. He looked slow and unreactive at times. Sure the teams that were playing in front of him had poor nights defensively, as the old Tortorella saying goes, “It would be nice to get an occasional save.”

Then the 34-year-old comes to Montreal and looks different. People who think the ‘change of scenario’ native is a myth can look no further than Niemi because the Habs were just as poor defensively, but he managed to play some solid games. He’s had two .923, a .912 and .923 nights in his five starts this season which are decent numbers for a backup.

Unfortunately, the team didn’t give him his first win until just recently against the Washington Capitals, but he’s proven to be a solid pickup.

You’ve probably heard of the Carey Price news by now. If not, Price has been suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome since the beginning of the season. It’s been affecting his energy levels and apparently was a big part of his poor start. Thankfully Price has gotten it under control.

That being said, I don’t think it would be out of the question for Claude Julien to give Niemi more starts. Don’t worry; I’m not saying this to feed into the tank mentality, I just think the Habs should reward players on the team for their play.

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At the same time, since the season is what it is, does it make sense to run Price so hard? Sure goaltenders like to have a rhythm and play as much as they can, but I’m not sure if starting him nine or ten games in a row is needed anymore.

Granted the team doesn’t have the same mentality as your or I at home and want to win every game. That doesn’t change anything though as Niemi has given the Habs a chance to come away with two points in each of his starts.

We’ll have to see how Julien chooses to run his net for the rest of the season. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Price get the majority of the starts and the head coach wouldn’t be wrong to do that. However, playing Niemi more is something to think about.

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Do you think Niemi should start more? Let us know down in the comments below.