Montreal Canadiens Suddenly Have Several Great Goaltending Prospects

The Montreal Canadiens have not used a lot of draft picks on goaltenders in the past 15 years.

When you have Carey Price in goal winning a Hart Trophy and competing for Vezina’s every year, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to prioritize goaltending with the few draft picks you do have every year.

After taking Price with the 5th overall pick in 2005, the Canadiens only drafted four goaltenders in an 11 year period. They took Jason Missiaen in the 4th round in 2008, Peter Simila in the 7th round in 2009, Zach Fucale in the 2nd round in 2013 and Hayden Hawkey in the 6th round in 2014.

Those four combined to play zero games for the Montreal Canadiens in their careers. Until Fucale played a single game for the Washington Capitals this season, the quarter had not played a minute at the NHL level. Again, when you have Price in net for that entire decade or so, it’s not a big deal to get no value out of a few drafted goalies.

However, with Price well into his 30’s, the team has been drafting goaltender more regularly in recent years. In the past five drafts the Canadiens have selected four goalies and they have quietly built an impressive stable of goaltending prospects with a few late selections.

In 2017, the team took Cayden Primeau in the 7th round. He went on to play two exceptional college seasons for the Northeastern Huskies after being drafted and is now in his third year with the Laval Rocket. Primeau hasn’t looked great when forced into duty for the Canadiens for a handful of games, but he has put together long stretches of good play for the Rocket in the AHL each year.

He is still just 22 years old and has the talent and potential to be a future starter for the Canadiens down the road.

In 2019, the Canadiens used a 5th round pick on Frederik Dichow. The native of Denmark put up okay numbers in Sweden’s Junior league in 2019-20 and then barely played last season. This year, he is playing regularly for Kristianstads in Allsvenskan which is Sweden’s second best pro league.

The 20 year old goaltender has a 2.33 GAA and a .921 SV% in 14 games. He is still a long way from starting a game for the Canadiens, but he is still young enough that he could be playing Junior hockey in Canada, and he is putting up solid numbers in a pro league in Sweden. At 6’5″ he has the size of today’s goaltenders, and it will be interesting to keep an eye on his development in the next couple years in Sweden.

In 2020, the Canadiens drafted another European netminder. This time it was Jakub Dobes from Ostrava, Czech Republic. Also 6’5″, Dobes was playing Junior hockey in the United States at the time. He had impressive stats at the lower NAHL level, but a GAA over 3.00 and a SV% under .900 in the USHL.

It seemed like an odd pick, but Dobes was much better last season, putting up a 2.48 GAA and a .908 SV% for the Omaha Lancers of the USHL. This season, he is a freshman at Ohio State University and he has stolen the starting role already. In 15 games he has a 2.20 GAA to go with a .921 SV% in a tough Big Ten conference. For a debut college season, those are impressive numbers.

At the 2021 NHL Draft, the Canadiens used a 7th round pick on goaltender Joe Vrbetic. He did not play in 2020-21 because the OHL did not have a season. The previous year he struggled with the North Bay Battalion, posting a 4.23 GAA and a .881 SV%.

This year, he is 4th in the OHL in GAA with a 2.59 and his .906 SV% is 7th while he is third in wins with 13.

Goaltenders are extremely difficult to predict from one year to the next. There are no guarantees that any of these four goalies will turn into a start at the NHL level. However, considering all the organization used was a couple of 5th round picks and a pair of 7th round picks, they have built an impressive crop of goaltending prospects.