The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators have No. 1 goalies facing the pressure to improve quickly, while the Vancouver Canucks have quite a challenge to address.
The Vancouver Canucks, Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators face increasing pressure in this week's NHL Hot Seat Radar.
While the Canadiens and Senators have some goaltenders whose play this season are causes for concern, the Canucks have a GM whose job could depend on how he deals with an onslaught of trade rumors and speculation.
If you're new to this weekly series, being on the Hot Seat Radar doesn't necessarily mean the individual will be fired or traded from their team. But in all the cases below, there's a great deal of pressure to change things for the better. With that said, let's get to it:
Warming Up: Samuel Montembeault, G, Montreal Canadiens
The Canadiens had a great start to the season, but they've tapered off significantly since then. Subpar goaltending is one of the reasons for their fall in the standings.
Montembeault, in particular, has struggled since Game 1 of the season. He has a 3.65 goals-against average, .857 save percentage and 5-6-1 record in 15 games.
He's nearly lost starting duties to 24-year-old Jakub Dobes, who won his first six starts and is 10-5-2 on the season. But Dobes fell back to earth and now has a 3.15 GAA and .887 SP in 17 games.
Montembeault replaced Dobes in net during Tuesday's 6-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and he allowed three goals on 12 shots. He's only recorded a save percentage higher than .870 once in his last five games.
Those performances just won't cut it if he wants to stay in the rotation and be part of a productive tandem. The Habs even called up 21-year-old Jacob Fowler to play while Montembeault and Dobes find their games.
Montembeault has virtually played his way off of Canada's Olympic team after making the 4 Nations Face-Off team, but he has bigger fish to fry in Montreal. The 29-year-old has another year on his contract at $3.15 million per season, but the Habs' playoff aspirations mean there's all sorts of pressure on Montembeault right now.
The Habs likely won't trade Montembeault, who's been Montreal's No. 1 goalie for much of the last three seasons. But if he doesn't improve in short order, he will see his opportunities decrease significantly, because the Habs can't miss out on the playoffs after ending the drought last year.
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Warming Up: Patrik Allvin, GM, Vancouver Canucks
The Canucks have been an unmitigated disaster this season, sliding down to the bottom of the Western Conference.
Even worse, the possibility of superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes being traded is now looming over everything Vancouver does.
Canucks coach Adam Foote even said the noise has made its way into the team's dressing room, which is a worst-case scenario.
Allvin and his boss, vice-president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford, have to do two key things: first, they need to address where the Canucks are in the standings and decide if they're going to be buyers or sellers on the trade front. The longer they struggle in the wins/losses department, the more likely it is that Allvin and Rutherford are sellers.
And if Vancouver completely craters and finishes in the basement of the Pacific Division, Allvin will either have to sell Hughes on staying for the long term or start seriously looking at offers for Hughes' services.
Either way, the Canucks just don't need to be dealing with noise surrounding their captain, which mainly started last April when Rutherford mentioned the possibility of Hughes wanting to play with his brothers in New Jersey.
Allvin must figure out how to protect the team from the drama, because the noise will only make it tougher for the Canucks to bounce back and get into the playoffs, which would certainly make a good case for Hughes sign an extension as soon as July 1.
The GM must demonstrate he has a plan for the short and long term or face the prospect of being replaced.
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Warming Up: Linus Ullmark, G, Ottawa Senators
Big things were expected for the Senators this year, and in spurts, we've seen Ottawa look ready to live up to expectations.
Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Ullmark.
The 32-year-old has lost three of his past four games, with a 3.58 GAA and .860 SP in that span. Ullmark's season stats now include an .877 SP, 3.05 GAA and 10-8-4 record. The Sens need more from him than that.
Ullmark is in Year 1 of a four-year contract paying him $8.25 million per year. For that reason alone, the Senators aren't about to give up on the Swede. But Ottawa is second-last in the Eastern Conference, so the team will need some sustained efforts out of Ullmark to get back near the top of the Atlantic Division.
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