Everyone is chiming in on this situation but I’ve seen this before. With so many college players and since Jacob Fowler is the best goalie in the country, he can write his own ticket. And his representatives know that and they’re not going to blink while they wait for the Canadiens to meet with his advisor.
I have a different take than Karine on this subject. I’m not saying he’s definitely going back to BC, but I am saying there is no financial benefit for him to take the ATO, play for Laval, and start his ELC next year. He wants and all college stars want to burn that first year of the ELC to get to unrestricted free agency sooner.
Here are some options. The first is, and this has happened before. You see if you can clinch the playoffs and if it’s before game 82, then he can play his one NHL game and his season is over. The plan to use him in Laval is over too, for this year. That’s not his focus. Trust me.
If they wait this long, you are asking him to wait around 10 days to see what happens and that might not sit well with his camp. That might be the play right now and if that’s the case, fans will be sitting on pins and needles for much longer.
Fowler can play in Laval next year. He wants the other perks first, when Trey Augustine didn’t get that from the Detroit Red Wings, he went back to Michigan State. Could that happen here? Yes. If you go back and look at some of the other cases in recent memory where a great college talent ended up getting his rights traded it’s because something happened in the negotiations that they didn’t like.
Montreal shouldn’t be taking that risk. If you’re worried about losing a chance at making the playoffs because of Fowler’s one start. That’s a choice. If Fowler is your goalie of the future then you sign him and get him his game in Montreal that he dreamed of as a kid.