Hockey

Three goalie scouts at the Bell Centre yesterday: What if the Habs had a goalie on the market?
Marc-Olivier Cook
Three goalie scouts at the Bell Centre yesterday: What if the Habs had a goalie on the market?
Credit: Screenshot/YouTube

A hockey club can't win if its goaltenders allow too many goals.

There are other aspects to consider when looking at a team's success: player performance, the team's system of play, efficiency on special units…

But in the end, the most important thing is in front of the net. You can score five goals a game, but if you give away six… you won't win. And right now in Montreal, that's the biggest problem: Samuel Montembeault and Jakub Dobes aren't getting the job done.

For yesterday's match at the Bell Centre, several scouts were on hand to watch the game. Of the lot? Three clubs sent their goalie scouts to monitor the performance of the goalies involved in the game.

And that forces me to say this. There's a lot of talk about the Canadiens looking elsewhere in the NHL for a goalie. But… is there a world in which goalies are on display in Montreal?

Is that why Jakub Dobes made his fourth start in as many games last night?

It's an interesting question to ask.

Kent Hughes is a guy who likes to hide his game, and we haven't heard any rumors about the Canadiens' goaltenders in recent weeks. It's not as if we knew Monty or Dobes' name was circulating around the NHL either.

It makes you wonder, then, what the Canadiens' plan is. Jacob Fowler was recalled last night after the game: does this mean that Kent Hughes is indeed trying to trade a goalie right now?

Was Fowler's recall a precautionary measure, given that Jakub Dobes seems to have hurt himself at the end of the first period? Who knows.

What we do know, however, is that Kent Hughes was a very attentive spectator at this morning's practice in Brossard. And I find it hard to believe that this is a mere coincidence…


Overtime

– Well done.

– Hmm.

– All the better.

– Love this.

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