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Askarov with the Sharks: Montreal can console itself with Fowler
Credit: Capture d'écran / Screenshot

After a very long wait, Yaroslav Askarov’s wish was finally granted when the Predators traded him to the San Jose Sharks. Also in the running to acquire the young goaltender, the Habs shouldn’t worry too much.

That’s what Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports thinks. Speaking to BPM Sports on Monday, Lavoie said that Askarov doesn’t really belong in Montreal anyway.

Lavoie believes that adding another goalie to a roster that already includes Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau in the NHL would only have caused unease in the team.

In any case, Askarov had made it very clear that he wanted to play in the NHL this season. That’s a luxury Montreal probably couldn’t have offered with two goalies on one-way contracts.

For Renaud Lavoie, the future in front of the Habs’ cage is Jacob Fowler. The Habs’ goalie had already impressed in his draft year and is now “unrecognizable”, in Lavoie’s words.

When he says “unrecognizable”, he means it in the good sense of the word. Fowler was overweight during his first development camp with the Canadiens and is now in excellent shape.

That’s probably what helped him achieve so much success with Boston College in the NCAA last season.

Lavoie is so convinced that Fowler will be the Habs’ number-one goalie for the foreseeable future that he said he’s the kind of player who can guide the Habs to “the promised land”.

At least, that’s what he thinks Habs management thinks of Fowler.

Getting back to the Askarov deal, the Canadiens were also in the running, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. They reportedly submitted an offer, but the Predators preferred the Sharks’.

Simon Boisvert was also on BPM Sports on Monday, and he imagined the kind of offer the Canadiens could have made to Nashville. In his opinion, an offer including the Florida Panthers’ first-round pick and forward Owen Beck would have made sense.

However, he agrees that the Sharks’ offer of David Edstrom and the Golden Knights’ first pick was more attractive to Barry Trotz.

Overtime

– Incroyable.

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