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Montreal Canadiens: The other move lost in Friday’s buzz

By Omar L |
MONTREAL, QC - MAY 27: Goaltending Coach Stephane Waite of the Montreal Canadiens looks on from the bench during the warm up before the game against the New York Rangers in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell Centre on May 27, 2014 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - MAY 27: Goaltending Coach Stephane Waite of the Montreal Canadiens looks on from the bench during the warm up before the game against the New York Rangers in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell Centre on May 27, 2014 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images)

Dominique Ducharme was the talk of the town as the new Montreal Canadiens assistant head coach, but the resigning of Stephen Waite is equally as important.

If you put the Montreal Canadiens in any search bar, the first thing to come up will be Dominique Ducharme and rightly so. It’s getting to the point of being a broken record, but his experience with handling young talent is beyond valuable for where the Habs are hoping to turn towards.

Even the firings of J.J. Daigneault and Dan Lacroix got a significant amount of buzz. You never want to celebrate someone losing their job, but it was obvious that something wasn’t working on the Montreal Canadiens bench which again ties right back to the Ducharme hiring. However, there was another good move that came out of Friday’s news dump in that Stèphane Waite received an extension with the organization.

Waite has been the Habs goaltending coach since July of 2013 and deserves a lot of credit for the play of Carey Price over the years and Antti Niemi this season. The relationship between a goalie and his coach is very underrated, and Waite has been able to bring out the best in both. Obviously, it went the opposite way for Price, but who had Niemi playing as well he did for the remainder of the year.

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The 34-year-old looked like a desperate stopgap to handle the situation in net after both Price, and Al Montoya went down with an injury. However, Niemi stepped in and provided the Montreal Canadiens with some quality goaltending even though the team continued to lose.

Waite has been known to allow his goalies to come into their own and not force a certain style on them which Niemi mentioned in his first few days with the team.

Even if Niemi doesn’t return next season, having Waite around will be huge for a young goaltender in Charlie Lindgren who looks ready to make the step into the NHL full-time. Additionally, the relationship with Waite will help Price get back to where he wants to be which will be critical in any scenario where the Habs improve.

Next: Chuck Fletcher May Be a Good Add

The goalie whisperer will have a lot of work cut out for him this offseason heading into September, but it’s great to know that he’ll still be on the ice with Price.

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