Montreal Canadiens goaltender Cayden Primeau has been re-assigned to the Laval Rocket this evening.
Primeau was called up when Jake Allen was injured with a concussion against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, November 13th. Allen was pulled from that game by the concussion spotter and clearly it was the right call as he missed the past week with the injury.
Primeau filled in for two games in Allen’s absence and though his numbers don’t suggest it, he played fairly well.
The 22 year old netminder started against the New York Rangers on Tuesday night, allowing three goals on 34 shots in the 3-2 loss. That’s not a bad night for a minor league call up, and he really wasn’t given much help in front of him on the three goals. If the team offered little help on Tuesday, they were pretty much working against Primeau on Thursday night.
The Habs faced the Pittsburgh Penguins and were shellacked in a 6-0 loss. It was one of the worst defensive games in recent Canadiens history with tap-in goals handed to Sidney Crosby and odd man rushes coming fast and furious throughout the night. Primeau was mercifully pulled after allowing five goals in the first two periods.
With Primeau sent down, this suggests that Allen must be ready to go for the Habs next game which is not until Wednesday night against the Washington Capitals.
It also begs the question, why didn’t the Habs just put Allen on injured reserve? To make a roster spot for Primeau, the team had to place Adam Brooks on waivers and he was claimed by the Vegas Golden Knights. Putting Allen on injured reserve would have meant he needed to miss a minimum of ten days, but he is going to miss… ten days.
I guess it is impossible to know how quickly someone is going to recover from an injury, but shouldn’t they assume a concussion would cost a player at least a week? Losing Brooks, who they got for nothing on waivers anyway, isn’t a huge blow, but they lost depth unnecessarily by not placing Allen on injured reserve to open up a roster spot for Primeau.
The Laval Rocket next play on Friday night against the Belleville Senators.