A Winning Habit
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Charlie Lindgren can be the next Peter Budaj for the Montreal Canadiens

By Omar L

MONTREAL, QC - APRIL 6: Charlie Lindgren #39 and Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrate after defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL game at the Bell Centre on April 6, 2019 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - APRIL 6: Charlie Lindgren #39 and Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrate after defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL game at the Bell Centre on April 6, 2019 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Montreal Canadiens
MONTREAL, QC – APRIL 06: Carey Price Charlie Lindgren Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

This won’t be new territory for Lindgren. The 25-year-old has had NHL stars sprinkled out to him since signing with the Montreal Canadiens after finishing his final year at St. Cloud State.

Some critique Lindgren’s ability to compete in the show making reference to his numbers in the AHL. It’s true, they aren’t nearly as good. But there is one thing we need to keep in mind: the Laval Rocket have never been a good team. The chances and opportunities Lindgren faced on a nightly basis were worse than anything he’s had to experience in the NHL.

His first pro season went well and the then St. Johns Ice Caps played well enough to make the playoffs. Lindgren played in 48 games, had a 24-18-1 record and .914 save percentage. The other two seasons in Laval saw Lindgren finish with a .886 and .884 save percentage respectively where he missed time with a lower-body injury in the latter season.

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Could Lindgren have been better? Probably, but a team’s goaltending is equally as good as the players in front of them, and unfortunately, not everyone can be Carey Price.

Ironically, the 2017-18 season really had Lindgren stand out as an NHL goaltender and gave more credibility to the prediction than the one or two-game stints he’d get in the final stretches of the season.

What was comforting about Lindgren’s play that year was his presence on the ice. Having Price in net is warming for the team because you know the Montreal Canadiens will have an opportunity to win, even if their play that night isn’t up to par. Lindgren was doing the same thing making big stops against the opposition despite not getting the results in the wins column.

The question for the Montreal Canadiens is can Lindgren match or exceed Budaj as a backup for Price moving forward?

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