Montembeault contract: Kent Hughes “doesn’t want to create expectations for fans”.

Although Samuel Montembeault may not have had as strong a start to the season as he’d hoped, the Quebecer has been in fine form for some time now. His recent successes, combined with Jake Allen’s few missteps in recent games, mean that the stats for the two goalkeepers are quite similar.

Not so long ago, Allen was (by far) the club’s best goalkeeper, but now it’s pretty tight. Even Cayden Primeau (on a smaller sample, that said) is in the same league as his two teammates.

In fact, it’s Montembeault who will face the Flames tonight. Logic is respected after Allen got the start last Sunday.

However, in the last few days, Monty has been in the news for reasons other than his performance, as his contractual situation has come up for discussion. In fact, it was Elliotte Friedman who reported on Saturday evening that the club and the player were working hard to make progress on the file, something the main interested party didn’t necessarily deny in front of the media.

It’s clear that the communication channel is solid and that negotiations are progressing, but despite this, Kent Hughes remained cautious when asked about it by journalists earlier today.

The reason? He doesn’t want to “create expectations for the fans” should negotiations turn sour.

Hughes made no secret of the fact that he’s in talks with the goaltender’s clan about the latter’s contractual situation, but he avoids dwelling on the subject because his past as an agent has made him aware of the reality of contract negotiations. Just because things are going well one day doesn’t mean they’ll be fine the next, as he explains.

And in fact, I don’t think Hughes’ comments should be seen as a warning signal or anything like that. I really think he wants to avoid compromising himself by saying that everything’s going well, because it would be much harder to justify himself in the event of negotiations going badly.

The question, as I see it, is what the Quebecer’s next contract will look like. This afternoon, Georges Laraque reminded BPM Sports that Montembeault can afford to be patient considering the NHL goaltending situation, which could allow him to wait for the right price and look elsewhere if he doesn’t get it in Montreal.

I don’t know if $16 million over four years is a realistic deal, but it’s something Montembeault can potentially hope to get considering the scarcity of goalies in the NHL.

In Laraque and Gonzalez, Georges and Stéphane discussed Samuel Montembeault’s upcoming contract and the value of the tricolore’s goaltender.

Would you be willing to give the goalie 4 million per season for four years? pic.twitter.com/jJs45pkInu

– BPM Sports (@BPMSportsRadio) November 14, 2023

So we’ll see how the file evolves over the next few weeks (because nothing is imminent, according to what Montembeault said on Saturday night), but I expect it to end up being settled sooner or later.

In gusto

– Wow.

– Will the Oilers let him play that 10th game, which would earn him a whopping $3.225 million bonus (most of which would be placed on next season’s payroll)?

– It’s understandable.