How Long Will the Montreal Canadiens Keep Three Goalies?

The Montreal Canadiens have had three goalies on their roster since the start of the season. How long before GM Kent Hughes makes a move?

Goaltending has been a hot topic around the Montreal Canadiens for the longest time. The discussions normally evolve around the starting goalie for the next game, statistics, contracts and anything else related to between the pipes.

This season’s main discussion around the Canadiens has been the three goalies currently on the roster. With Cayden Primeau no longer being waiver exempt, he joined last season’s tandem of Sam Montembeault and Jake Allen.

From the outside, it was not known whether the Canadiens were willing to place Primeau on waivers and risk losing him for nothing.

As the season opening roster included the three goalies, it became clear to me that management feels that there’s a good chance that they would lose Primeau if he was exposed on waivers.

Many anticipated that the situation would be resolved quickly, but the three-goalie tandem remains intact through 18 matches.

“We know that three goaltenders isn’t the optimum way to go about it but for now that’s what we’re going to do. We know we won’t do it all season. Sooner or later we will have to figure this out, but for now it’s the way we’re going to go,” Canadiens Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Jeff Gorton told TSN during the October 26th broadcast.

At the recent general manager meetings, Kent Hughes said that he’s happy with the way that the three-goalie tandem is playing itself out. 

Here are three more reasons that I feel that the team will be patient with three goalies on the roster:

Jake Allen has had a good start to the season and becomes a good candidate for a contending team that needs a reliable and experienced backup goalie that can come in relief when needed.

Allen has one more year remaining on his deal that carries a $3.85 million cap hit. With cap space being limited on a lot of contending teams, his salary becomes more digestible at the trade deadline.

On Saturday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Hockey Night in Canada that the Edmonton Oilers are "looking at all three of Montreal's goaltenders."

On the 32 Thoughts podcast, Friedman went further saying, "I think Allen is the least likely of the three." In his view, the Oilers are looking at Montembeault and Primeau.

Some folks anticipated that Sam Montembeault would be handed the number one role to start the season. It’s not how the situation has played out up to this point, as Montembeault and Allen have each played eight games.

The 27-year-old is in his contract year and negotiations have begun between both parties. Since last season, Hughes has mentioned that there’s interest in extending Montembeault. Things change fast in the world of hockey, and until there’s a signature on the dotted line, it’s best not to assume that a deal is in the bag.

If the discussions don’t go as expected, the club might look at shopping Montembeault well before the deadline. "I do think that the Canadiens are getting to the point where they want to have this end," said Friedman on his podcast. "How long are you willing to wait to see if those negotiations work out?"

It might not be the best method in asset management but the lack of goaltending depth should be a consideration. If the team triggers a trade that involves one of the three goalies moving to another organization, it will the Canadiens thin in net in case of injury.

Jakub Dobes is the only other goalie that has a NHL contract that can be recalled if that scenario materializes. Dobes is in his first season as a professional and the best development path for him is to get repetitions in Laval.

The other option would be to acquire or sign another goalie to come in as a potential backup, which I feel isn’t optimal to trade a goalie away and then later forced to trade to acquire a goalie in case of injury. 

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