Goaltending is important when teams want to make the next step. You don’t make it without it and right now the Montreal Canadiens don’t have that. But the statistics can be weird and that’s why goaltending is so hard to figure out. 

As a team, they are 25th in the league. I think the eye test said they would be somewhere around that. They have a 3.28 goals-against average. That’s a team stat so ok, it’s bad, but there are some other extenuating circumstances there.

The team save percentage, the stat that makes goaltenders money, is .893. The Red Wings are just above them with .895. If you want to say, Cayden Primeau tanked those numbers, maybe a little but he didn’t play enough to change this total this late into the season. This one is earned. 

If you want to bring up advanced statistics, Sam Montembeault is ranked 4th in the NHL in expected goals against according to. Money Puck. That’s not great either. Now, this means the team gives up a lot of high-danger scoring chances but at some point, you have to save some of them as a goalie. His save percentage is .900 and he’s ranked 28th in the league. Jakub Dobes is a rookie and I’m not going to read into this season with him because it’s too early in his career to do so.

Jacob Fowler will be in training camp next year. What they decide to do with him will be interesting. I think he must play in the AHL for a period of time no matter what.