Pierre McGuire believes Jacob Fowler is the guy who will take the Canadiens to the next level

For the Montreal Canadiens to be successful, they need to have all parts moving in fine order - but perhaps the most important is a goaltender that can hold it altogether.

From Jacques Plante to Ken Dryden to Patrick Roy and the great before them, one thing has been constant. If you want success, it's important to be great defensively and have the offensive weapons to outscore the other team. But the winningest Habs teams and league-wide are the ones with the goalie, who got hot at the right time or just remained hot for the year.

Jacob Fowler has been technically sound and uber competitive, but even keeled. He is the ultimate competitor and he battles until the whistles every night, but positionally he is able to get to where he needs to be without having to exert much energy. Though he has the athletic tools to back him up, should he need them.

For these reasons and many more, Pierre McGuire believes that Fowler is going to be the guy that the Habs rely on when they start making some noise in the playoffs.

Fowler has the poise and welcomes the pressure

It is easy to say I love the pressure and I want it - all of the top players think that way and welcome it. But when the chips are down and it's time to show out, that's when you put up or shut up. Fowler showed how confident he was during his pre-draft interviews, which caught Habs management's attention. But he followed that up with a ridiculous freshman NCAA season.

We can look at the season as, wow he had an incredible year, but it's just a flash in the pan. But Fowler has gotten better each season since he was in junior, and if anything he is prepared to take things up a notch. McGuire watches a lot of hockey and spends a ton of time around hockey players, so it's hard to argue with him if he sees potential in a player.

Was he wrong about Carey Price, yes he was, but this isn't a perfect science, some players don't advance the way you think they will. Some emerge in ways that didn't seem possible and prove 31 other gm's wrong. It's the nature of the beast, but until proven otherwise, it's pretty intriguing to think that the team is getting better and the goalie of the future is brushing up on his skills in the NCAA, in preparation for his shot in the NHL down