Habs Mailbag: No rush for Canadiens to trade Samuel Montembeault

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If the Canadiens keep three goalies, do you think they eventually trade someone? If they do, who do you think they trade?

Carlo DeRose on X — @cderose73

Samuel Montembeault is the most likely goalie to be traded — the question is when?

The 29-year-old has one more season left on his contract with a US$3.15 million salary-cap hit. After a two-game conditioning stint with the AHL’s Laval Rocket, Montembeault has won his last three starts with the Canadiens, stopping 77 of 84 shots for a .917 save percentage. His season record is 8-6-1 with a 3.39 goals-against average and an .869 save percentage.

GM Kent Hughes is hoping Montembeault has found his game again, which would not only help the Canadiens in the present but also increase the veteran goalie’s trade value. I don’t think Hughes is ready to go with two rookie goalies — Jacob Fowler and Jakub Dobes — who have a combined 45 games of NHL experience.

The way things are going, I can see Hughes going with Montembeault and Fowler as the two goalies for the rest of this season while returning Dobes to Laval. Fowler is 21 and Dobes is 24, so the Canadiens are set up well for goaltending and I would expect Montembeault to be traded before the end of his contract.

But at this point, Hughes has no reason to rush into making that trade.

If Jacob Fowler keeps playing as well as he has, why the hell does he need “more seasoning” in the AHL? (Gazette, Jan. 7, “Habs GM Hughes has some tough decisions to make at season midpoint“). Samuel Montembeault has proven himself not to be a top-flight goalie. Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy and Carey Price never needed “more seasoning” in the minors. And Roy was even younger than Fowler when he joined the Canadiens. They’ve got two good, young goalies now. All they’re going to do is screw them up by keeping a mediocre veteran around.

Peter Vanderhaden

While Montembeault isn’t a “top-flight” goalie, he is better than mediocre and has seven years and 224 games of NHL experience under his belt. He was very consistent the last three seasons — posting save percentages of .901, .903 and .902, respectively — and was a big reason why the Canadiens made the playoffs last season, playing in 62 games. Only Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy and Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck played more games, with 63 each.

As Hughes said during his mid-season news conference last Tuesday, the plan this season was for Fowler to play a lot of games in Laval to gain experience and get used to a pro schedule after playing only 35 games last season and 39 games the previous season at Boston College. Montembeault’s struggles early in the season changed those plans and Fowler was called up much earlier than planned.

Hughes also said Tuesday that he has been impressed with Fowler’s mental maturity as much as his play with the Canadiens, showing he can handle the very bright spotlight that comes with being a goalie in Montreal. Fowler has a 4-2-2 record since getting called up to the Canadiens, along with a very impressive 2.37 GAA and .912 save percentage.

Fowler definitely looks like he’s ready to play in the NHL, but he might not be ready yet for the heavy workload of a No. 1 goalie. That’s why it makes sense to keep Montembeault and Fowler.

Further to your 100-point prediction (Gazette, Jan. 6, “These young Canadiens have each other’s backs“), do you know what the Habs’ record is over the past 82 regular-season games? The way they ended last season on a tear and with the very promising start to this season, I am pretty sure their point total would rank at or very near the top in the league.

Michal Kuzmicki

The Canadiens went 7-1-2 over their last 10 games last season to earn the final wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. But before that stretch, they had lost five straight games (0-3-2).

So their record over the last 54 games is a very impressive 32-14-8. Their record over the last 82 games is 43-26-13, good for 99 points.

With a 25-13-6 record this season, the Canadiens are on pace to finish with 104 points.

With the play of Oliver Kapanen so far and with Michael Hage coming perhaps sooner than later, do you still feel that the Habs are targeting a No. 2 centre? I don’t, personally.

QMJHL_FanHouse on X — @QMJHL_FanHouse

I think Hughes is targeting a big, top-six forward — not a No. 2 centre — who can play the wing on the No. 1 line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. I can’t imagine St. Louis moving Juraj Slafkovsky back to that line because of the success he has had since moving to the second line with Kapanen and Ivan Demidov.

In the last 15 games playing with Kapanen and Demidov, Slafkovsky has 7-12-19 totals. Kapanen has 6-5-11 totals over that span, while Demidov has 4-9-13 totals. Kapanen is the oldest player on that line at 22, while Slafkovsky is 21 and Demidov is 20. Slafkovsky’s 16 goals in 44 games this season are two less than he scored in 79 games last season.

Kapanen has shown he can be the No. 2 centre, something Hughes said on Tuesday. With Phillip Danault under contract for one more season, it will allow Hage to play a full season in Laval if he decides to leave the University of Michigan at the end of this season and then join the Canadiens as a third-line centre who can compete with Kapanen to become the No. 2 centre of the future.

What is the timeline for our injured players to return? And what are your thoughts as to how they will be deployed and which players will not have a lineup spot?

Doug Folk, Saskatchewan

Defenceman Kaiden Guhle could return to the lineup as soon as Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings at the Bell Centre (7 p.m., City, SNE, TVA Sports) after being sidelined since mid-October with a partially torn adductor muscle that required surgery. I expect Guhle will be partnered again with Lane Hutson and Jayden Struble will be the seventh defenceman after Adam Engstrom was returned to Laval on Thursday.

Josh Anderson is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury that has sidelined him for the last four games. Jake Evans is expected to be out until at least Jan. 27 with a lower-body injury. Patrik Laine is expected to be out until the end of February after surgery to repair a core muscle injury at the end of October. Alex Newhook is expected to be out until at least March 17 with a fractured ankle. 

When Anderson returns, I would expect Owen Beck to go back to Laval. When Evans returns, I expect Joe Veleno will become the extra forward, unless Martin St. Louis decides to move him from centre to wing. Samuel Blais has been a very effective fourth-line winger since getting called up from Laval, with 2-3-5 totals in nine games.

With the way the top two lines are playing, I’m not sure if there’s a spot for Laine in the lineup, but you never know what’s going to happen on the injury front between now and the end of next month, with the NHL trade deadline set for March 6. Newhook won’t return until after the trade deadline and could add more offence to the third line with Phillip Danault and Zachary Bolduc, while Brendan Gallagher could drop to the fourth line.

Do you feel on-ice chemistry could be a challenge for the Canadiens as players return from injuries?

After i on X — @JMcinthe613

Team chemistry won’t be a problem. That chemistry is one of the biggest strengths of this team, which is the youngest in the NHL.

It has been a long time since the Canadiens have had so much internal competition for jobs when it comes to goaltending, defence and forwards. That’s a nice problem to have and management and the leaders in the locker room have built a winning culture in which that competition can thrive.

What is the cause or need for such (over-the-top in my opinion) loud music at the Bell Centre? It is most annoying, but there must be some commercial reason behind it. Seriously, does it cause the fans to drink or eat more from the concessions? Get the fans deliberately ticked off so that they cheer louder? Meant to anger the opposition? I can assure you the Toronto Blue Jays (I am a Canadiens fan and don’t go to Leaf games) are guilty of the same. Any insight?

David Sword, Toronto

I also find the very loud music at the Bell Centre annoying — but I’m old.

Just about every sports arena blares music during every stoppage in play and during intermissions because they are selling an entertainment experience as much as a game in a concert-like environment. It also keeps the fan excitement level up — at least for the younger ones. NBA arenas even play music sometimes while the game is going on.

However, I had a big smile on my face at the last two games at the Bell Centre when fans started doing the wave during TV timeouts. Instead of drowning out the fans — who also started chanting “Olé! Olé! Olé! — the Bell Centre DJ stopped playing music and let the fans enjoy themselves.

Another fun tradition that has started at the Bell Centre is the fans singing along during TV timeouts to Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline and John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads.

Could you let me know what you consider to be the best books about the great Canadiens dynasty years in the 1970s? I have read The Game and Scotty: A Hockey Life Like No Other by Ken Dryden and the excellent Serge Savard: Forever Canadien. What else is on your reading list?

Michael Harrold

The late, great Red Fisher of The Gazette, who covered those dynasty years, wrote a great book titled Hockey, Heroes & Me.

Legendary broadcaster Dick Irvin also covered the Canadiens’ dynasty years and has written a few books about those teams, including: My 26 Stanley Cups: Memories of a Hockey Life; The Habs: An Oral History of the Montreal Canadiens, 1940-80; and Now Back to You Dick: Two Lifetimes in Hockey.

There’s also Todd Denault’s book, The Greatest Game: The Montreal Canadiens, the Red Army and the Night That Saved Hockey, about the famous New Year’s Eve game in 1975 at the Forum.

I gather former Canadien Peter Mahovlich has been a scout for many seasons and will turn 80 later this year. Does he return to Montreal every now and then, either as a scout or for alumni events? He scored that fantastic short-handed goal for Team Canada in Game 2 of the 1972 Summit Series. Remember?

Grant Manson, Brampton, Ont.

Of course I remember that goal, even though I was only 9 when Mahovlich scored for Canada in a 4-1 win over the Soviets in Toronto after losing Game 1 by a 7-3 score at the Forum. Anyone who watched that goal live will never forget it.

Mahovlich, who will turn 80 on Oct. 10, used to be a regular visitor in the Bell Centre press box when he was working as a scout, most recently for the Florida Panthers, while living in Queensbury, N.Y. But he retired a few years ago and I haven’t seen him at the Bell Centre since.

scowan@postmedia.com

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If you have a question you’d like to ask for the weekly Habs Mailbag, you can email it to montrealcanadiens@postmedia.com

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