Montreal Canadiens: Rocket Crease a Three-Way Battle Going Into 2021-22

There wasn’t a whole lot of note to take from this year’s list of NHL players who had filed for Arbitration, yet the Montreal Canadiens nonetheless found themselves with one such player.

Not Jesperi Kotkaniemi, as has been widely discussed and debated over the past few weeks (with the former 2018 third overall pick still unsigned), rather, Laval Rocket goaltender Michael McNiven. It goes without saying that this was a bit of a strange move from the 6’01 netminder, as McNiven has yet to secure a full-time role at the AHL level, let alone the NHL one.

Regardless, Montreal managed to avoid arbitration with McNiven, inking him to a one-year deal at league minimum, with a guaranteed salary of $100 k at the AHL level, with a potential $50 k bonus. McNiven hasn’t had the easiest ride thus far in his career to say the least, and for the most part, he’s been a player Montreal has struggled to find room for. A product of the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack, McNiven put up excellent numbers in his over-ager season with a 41-9-2 record, 2.30 GAA and 6 SO.

After being picked up by the Canadiens as an undrafted free agent, McNiven has shifted from the AHL to the ECHL and back, playing for five different teams over his first four seasons. While he managed to secure a role as a 1B option for the Rocket in 2018-19, splitting time with Connor LaCouvee and Charlie Lindgren at different points, McNiven went through the wringer in 2019-20 and has only recently managed to secure a full-time role once more in 2020-21.

After repeated struggles with inconsistency and lack of support from the parent club, the Rocket managed a Canadian Division title this past season with a 23-9-3 record, 9 points ahead of the second-place Manitoba Moose. Yet, as was the norm with many professional rosters this past season, Laval was hit with an influx of players whom they had to find playing time for, and their net was no exception.

Alongside McNiven, Lindgren, and top prospect and starting option Cayden Primeau, KHL import Vasili Demchenko and even Canadiens franchise cornerstone Carey Price (for one game) saw playing time in Laval’s crease, which made for a crowded situation, to say the least. Heading into 2021-22, the picture is now a bit clearer, with both Lindgren and Demchenko having parted for the St. Louis Blues and KHL respectively.

Following a crowded 2020-21 season, Canadiens AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket’s, the net is now a bit clearer, with a three-way battle in goal set for 2021-22.

For Primeau, a former seventh-round pick of the Canadiens in 2017 and recipient of the NCAA’s Mike Richter award for National Goaltender of the Year, he’s pretty much a lock as the starter. In spite of little fanfare and a mostly unknown reputation coming into Montreal, Primeau has answered the call brilliantly in Laval, posting a 17-11-3 record and 2.45 GAA in his rookie season in 2019-20. While he had to take a step back at times this past season, to make room for the numerous other options vying for playing time, he should now be given the keys to Laval’s crease once more.

Yet, as is often the case with any AHL club, another option has presented itself in Kevin Poulin. Poulin is an addition that most people are likely unfamiliar with, and it’s one I had talked about briefly in an In Other News… post a few months ago. A former fifth-round pick of the New York Islanders in 2008, Poulin is in many ways the X-Factor for the Rocket this season, with the 31-year-old Montreal native having the most NHL experience in Laval’s net. While his last NHL action was in 2014-15, Poulin was a brief backup to Evgeni Nabokov with the Islanders in 2013-14 and developed a penchant for inconsistent performances offset by some highlight-reel stops.

Since leaving the Islanders organization in 2015, Poulin has been the definition of a journeyman, going from Austria to Switzerland to Germany to Russia, to even the LNAH briefly in 2016-17. While he attempted a short-lived AHL comeback in 2019-20, lasting all of seven games, a strong showing in the Swedish first division in 2020-21, has given Poulin a second chance with his hometown team. While he’s struggled to find a consistent role anywhere over these past seasons, Poulin should be given ample opportunities in Laval and act as an excellent mentor for still-developing prospects like Primeau.

For McNiven, the backup/1 B job will be left up to him and Poulin, and it remains to be seen whether new Rocket head coach Jean-Francois Houle will ultimately side with one or the other. With the newly founded Trois-Rivieres Lions set to begin play in the ECHL this upcoming season, it’s likely either McNiven or Poulin will see time as their starting option.

In my opinion, I think McNiven has earned the chance to be that second option to Primeau and see how he fares with a regular spot in the lineup and similarly regular minutes. He’s proven his abilities at the AHL level, and now deserves a chance to show off the consistency he hasn’t gotten a chance to demonstrate thus far. Poulin marks one of the many AHL-contracted players the Rocket have added this past season (14 and counting) and should see some playing time with Laval, but in my mind is equally likely to be the Lions starter, and a solid one would he be at that.

While it remains to be seen how things ultimately fare, Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin has certainly laid the groundwork for a competitive, positive environment in the Rocket net, and with Cayden Primeau, Michael McNiven and Kevin Poulin all vying for playing time, it remains to be seen how things fare in the Laval Rocket’s crease, come the start of 2021-22.