The Montreal Canadiens made a big trade two nights ago when they sent Ben Chiarot to the Florida Panthers for a first round pick, a fourth round pick and Ty Smilanic.
General Manager Kent Hughes met with the media yesterday to discuss the trade and other things around the team as the trade deadline approaches on Monday.
One thing Hughes said that could make for some interesting decisions down the stretch of the season is that he doesn’t intend of trading away a goaltender before the deadline passes in three days.
The Canadiens entered this season expecting Carey Price and Jake Allen to carry the load in net. Of course, Price is yet to play a game yet this season and Allen just returned last night after missing over two months of the season. The team has been forced to use Samuel Montembeault a lot after picking him up on waivers, Andrew Hammond who was acquired via trade, as well as Cayden Primeau and even Michael McNiven who were slated to be the team’s AHL tandem this season.
Kent Hughes just said he had no intentions to trade a goalie from his organization. @CanadiensMTL
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) March 17, 2022
With Allen back, the current NHL tandem is him and Montembeault. This allowed Cayden Primeau to stay in the AHL with Kevin Poulin. But what is going to happen when the others return from injury?
Carey Price has been on the ice regularly for the past week, taking shots for the first time all season and moving less gingerly on the ice. He is not exactly “close” to returning but he is a lot closer than he has been at any other point this season.
If he can come back soon, and Hammond eventually makes his return as well, things will get pretty crowded. Obviously, the Canadiens would keep Price and Allen at the NHL level, but what would they do with the rest of their goaltenders in the organization?
Ideally, Primeau would continue to get the bulk of starts at the AHL level to further develop his game.
Kevin Poulin was named the AHL’s goaltender of the month in February. He would be battling with veterans Hammond and Montembeault for backup duty on the Laval Rocket.
It would be interesting to see how it all plays out. Of course, we would have to see an entirely healthy Habs team for this problem to ever occur. I’m guessing Price and Allen would stay at the NHL level, Primeau and Montembeault would play at the AHL level, if Montembeault clears waivers. Poulin would be sent back down to the ECHL. Hammond would maybe be loaned out to another AHL team that needs a netminder.
With Allen back and Price closer to a return than he has been since the Stanley Cup Final, it seems like a good time to try and trade Montembeault or even Allen if the return is great.
But it sounds like the Canadiens don’t plan on moving any of these goaltenders. It is not the end of the world, but the team could find itself with too many goalies in the near future and might even lose Montembeault on waivers as a result.
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