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Montreal Canadiens: Three Teams That Need One Of Habs Goalies

By Ken MacMillan

Apr 4, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault (35) during warm-up before the game against the Detroit Red Wings at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 4, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault (35) during warm-up before the game against the Detroit Red Wings at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 24, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Pheonix Copley. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 24, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Pheonix Copley. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

Los Angeles Kings

The Los Angeles Kings are definitely a Stanley Cup contender. They have tremendous depth at key positions like center where they boast Anze Kopitar, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Phillip Danault as well as on defense where Drew Doughty still shoulders a heavy load and Mikey Anderson, Vladislav Gavrikov, Jordan Spence and Matt Roy provide terrific depth.

Their plethora of options continues on the wing where Kevin Fiala, Adrian Kempe, Quinton Byfield and Trevor Moore are all scoring at nearly a point per game pace. That only leaves one position, but the Kings don’t have all their bases covered and it is an important area where they are lacking.

Cam Talbot arrived in Los Angeles as a free agent this summer. The 36 year old goalie signed a one-year contract with a cap hit of $1 million which kind of signals the team wasn’t expecting him to be a Vezina Trophy winner. He has played extremely well, with a 2.21 GAA and a .923 SV% but the team has been forced to rely heavily on the veteran.

Talbot has played 11 games this season while his backup Pheonix Copley has played just four. Copley pretty much couldn’t lose last season, but is struggling with a 4.58 GAA and a .792 SV%. They need an upgrade in goal.

The Kings are still winning almost every night and have a record of 8-3-1, but can’t expect Talbot to play almost every night at his age. Another veteran goalie that can share the workload and give the Kings reliability behind a great team would push this team into the top seed in the Western Conference possibly.

Jake Allen would make a lot of sense for them, and Marc Bergevin, who initially brought Allen to Montreal is still working in the Kings front office. An excellent teammate and steady goalie would be a perfect fit for the Kings.

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