Montreal Canadiens: The Three Battles to Watch Over the Remainder of Training Camp

Michael McNiven vs Kevin Poulin

Like I already said, there aren’t a lot of major roles up for debate, even this early in training camp. We know what the top line is and likely what the top three lines are and there is no question that the goaltending duo is set in stone.

The defence, well that depends, but we will get to that in a minute.

Once the 23 man roster is selected, and everyone else makes their way to either the Laval Rocket, their respective Junior team or back overseas, the Rocket will have one really difficult decision to make in goal.

We know Cayden Primeau will be their starter after he took the starter’s role last year and was playing really well down the stretch. But who will be his backup?

Either Michael McNiven gets to stay in the AHL for good, or veteran Kevin Poulin steals the role.

McNiven is a 24 year old who played 13 games with the Rocket last season and had decent numbers. He remains an interesting prospect who hasn’t been given a consistent place to play so it would be great if he could serve as Primeau’s backup and play 25-30 AHL games this season.

He will have to beat out 31 year old Kevin Poulin for that role.

Poulin has bounced around European pro leagues the past few years and has returned to his home province to either play for the Laval Rocket or the Trois-Rivieres Lions of the ECHL. He has played 192 games in the AHL and has 50 NHL games under his belt, so he certainly has the edge in experience, but do the Rocket need a 31 year old backup?

It will be interesting to see which one of McNiven or Poulin gets to start the year in the AHL and which one becomes the first starting goalie in Trois-Rivieres Lions history.