Habs: Yevgeni Volokhin more promising than Jacob Fowler, according to members of the organization

There haven’t been many Russian goalkeepers in the history of the Canadiens.

In 1983, Montreal drafted Vladislav Tretiak, the USSR’s goaltender in the Century Series, but he never made it to North America for a game.

And more recently, in 2023, Yevgeni Volokhin was selected in the fifth round by the Canadiens.

This Russian could finally take part in a game in front of the Habs’ net, because according to Marc Antoine Godin on the Tellement Hockey podcast , certain members of the organization hold him in very high esteem.

Nicolas Cloutier wrote about the “forgotten” prospect last November.

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Indeed, the journalist explains that the goaltender may be more promising than Jacob Fowler, according to some members of the organization.

Fowler is having an extraordinary season and, according to The Athletic, is the league’s third-best goaltending prospect. Volokhin wasn’t even included in this ranking.

In 2023-2024, the goalie is playing in the MHL, the LAH of the KHL if you will. At 18, he boasts an efficiency average of .927 and a goals-against average of 2.12. Drafted 144th (after Fowler and Quentin Miller), Volokhin could prove to be a steal.

However, don’t expect him to come to Montreal any time soon. He’s still young, the Russian factor comes into play and, above all, there are already plenty of goalies in the organization who are already in North America and have a certain NHL tag.

I’m thinking of Samuel Montembeault, Cayden Primeau, Jake Allen, Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler.

Anyway, I haven’t really heard much about the Russian since he was drafted, but this recent statement by Godin is sure to delight fans. After all, without a Carey Price or an Andrei Vasilevskiy, the future looks bright in front of the net. Perhaps it’s a little easier to understand why Kent Hughes turned down a trade for Yaroslav Askarov in exchange for the fifth pick of the last draft (David Reinbacher).

In gusto

– Of note in view of the all-important game.

– Well done.

– He also made Jordie Benn look bad.

Former Canadien Jordie Benn looks at the puck, misses it, and forgets #Habs prospect Filip Eriksson who scores Nybro’s opening goal of the game. #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/3lw4UPVJWt

– Patrik Bexell (@Zeb_Habs) March 17, 2024