If the Canadiens' Sam Montembeault and Kings' Darcy Kumper keep playing this well, Canada's goaltending at the 4 Nations Face-Off won't be a tough decision after all.
Team Canada faces a key question regarding which goalies play at the 4 Nations Face-Off. As the first full week of the NHL season wraps up, some goaltenders made an early case to be Canada's answers.
Two goalies, in particular, are contending to be Canada’s options in the net when the tournament takes place in February 2025. They are the Montreal Canadiens' Sam Montembeault and Los Angeles Kings' Darcy Kuemper.
Montembeault has arguably been the NHL's goalie of the week, turning aside 72 of 73 shots he’s seen in Montreal’s two wins. The 27-year-old currently has a 0.50 goals-against average and .986 save percentage.
Montembeault has never put up an average save percentage of better than .903 in his previous seasons, and his best goals-against average before to this season was 3.04 – and that was back in his first 11 NHL games in 2018-19. But he looks focused and positionally solid, and if he gets anywhere close to the same level for the next couple of months, Team Canada will have no choice but to give him every opportunity to win the starter’s job for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Another goalie currently shining is the Kings’ Kuemper, who is impressing L.A. brass in his initial run since being acquired Pierre-Luc Dubois trade with Washington this summer. Kuemper has a 1-0-1 record thus far, as well as a 1.47 GAA and .947 SP.
The 34-year-old Kuemper has a Stanley Cup championship to his credit. While he’s not likely to win a Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top netminder, if he can be steady and stable for the next eight to 10 weeks, Kuemper will persuade 4 Nations Canadian GM Don Sweeney to put him on the roster for the tournament.
There will be other challengers for Canada’s starter’s job in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Most notably, Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner, St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington and Vegas’ Adin Hill are on Sweeney’s radar. Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot actually has a better GAA (1.27) and SP (.964) than Kuemper in one-and-a-half games so far this season. But with no obvious front-runner for the No. 1 job for Canada, the goaltending jobs are up for grabs – and if Sweeney goes with Montembeault and Kuemper, nobody should be shocked.
The “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” nature of the goaltending position will continue throughout this NHL season, and whoever is most consistent between the pipes will wind up starting for Canada on the 4 Nations stage. Player reputations will lock up most of the other positions for Canada at the tournament, but when it comes to stopping the puck, it’s all about who’s hottest at the key time of the year. If Kuemper and Montembeault continue to thrive, Sweeney will happily make them Canada's tandem in net.
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