Watching the Stanley Cup Final come to an end earlier this week, I couldn’t help but wonder how the Edmonton Oilers [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/edmonton-oilers] could have the best player in the world and not give him decent goaltending to work with. Throughout the playoffs, Stuart Skinner had a 7-7 record, a 2.99 goals-against average, and a .889 save percentage while backup Calvin Pickard was 7-1, with a 2.85 GAA and a .886 SV. Those are not Cup-winning numbers. Former Montreal Canadiens [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens]player turned ESPN analyst P.K. Subban was quite vocal about how nonsensical that is: > “There’s some donkeys [coaches, presidents, and GMs] in control of the money” - P.K. Subban on those in charge of the money Canadiens: Former Hab Could Come Back To Atlantic Division [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-former-hab-could-come-back-to-atlantic-division] Canadiens: A Big Name Interested In Montreal [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-a-big-name-interested-in-montreal] Canadiens: Demidov Set To Take Part In Showdown [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-demidov-set-to-take-part-in-showdown] While it’s easy to judge the Edmonton management, it’s not the first time a team has failed to strike the right balance. The same happened before our very eyes with the Canadiens. After drafting Carey Price at the 2005 draft, the Habs had arguably the best goaltender in the business, and they proceeded to focus on giving him a good blueline rather than surrounding him with scoring power. To an extent, Price’s situation was even worse than McDavid’s. The Anahim Lake, BC native only made it to the Cup final once, while the 28-year-old Oilers captain has already won two Cup Finals under his belt. Let’s not get back into the “yes, but what if Chris Kreider never happened?” debate; what happened happened, and Price only came so close to Lord Stanley’s mug once. It can take time to assemble the right roster, one that has all the ingredients of a championship-winning team. For years, Florida Panthers [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers]' Sergei Bobrovsky was considered an overpaid goaltender with his $10 million cap hit. Now, with two Stanley Cup rings and three consecutive Cup Finals appearances, nobody’s calling him overpaid. Over those last three playoffs, he had .915, .906, and .914 SV alongside 2.78, 2.32, and 2.20 GAAs. If you go back to before Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk joined Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad in Florida, his stats were nowhere near as good. It takes time to build the perfect roster, and putting all your eggs in one basket is just not going to work. It didn’t work for Price, it didn’t work for the Toronto Maple Leafs [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs]’ Big Four, and it won’t work for McDavid either. It’s no wonder the Oilers’ captain is in no rush to sign a contract extension, even though he’ll be entering the last year of his deal next season. Unless the Oilers do some serious retooling, I wouldn’t be surprised to see McDavid take his incredible skills elsewhere, and it won’t be because he wasn’t patient enough. He has been in Edmonton for 10 years already. I’m aware that Edmonton’s big guns didn’t produce much in the Final either, but perhaps, if they had a goaltender who could make the first save on the first shot, the confidence level would have gone up and things would have been different…but we’ll never know. One thing’s for sure: GMs all around the league are taking notes on what to do and what not to do. In Montreal, Kent Hughes has locked up his top line and a defenseman. If everything goes according to plan, he should lock up his number one goaltender in the coming years, but Jacob Fowler will have to be as advertised for that to happen. Careful planning is not necessarily enough; you also need a bit of luck. There’s a reason why the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win in professional sports. Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canadiens stories, analysis, breaking news, and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News [https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMK-q0gsw7sXpAw/sections/CAQqEAgAKgcICjCvqtILMO7F6QMwo-DfCA?hl=en-CA&gl=CA&ceid=CA%3Aen], never to miss a story. Follow Karine on X @KarineHains [https://x.com/KarineHains] Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/karinehains.bsky.social] and Threads @karinehains [https://www.threads.net/@karinehains]. Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/] for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens. Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens] on The Hockey News.
