Kent Hughes confirms it: he doesn’t want three goalies to start the season

Félix Forget
Kent Hughes confirms it: he doesn’t want three goalies to start the season
Credit: Capture d'écran/YouTube

All summer long, we expected the Canadiens to trade Samuel Montembeault. The Quebec native was sidelined last season, and many expected his time in town to be over.

Except that as of today, Monty is… still in town.

That means the Habs currently still have three goalies. And barring a major turnaround, all three will be there when camp starts.

Kent Hughes, during this morning's golf tournament, confirmed that this is what we should expect. However, the GM emphasized that he wouldn't be comfortable having three goalies once the season actually gets underway.

So we can expect that there won't be a three-way split.

Obviously, we suspect that Jakub Dobes's spot is secure. That leaves a battle for the No. 2 goaltender spot between Montembeault and Jacob Fowler, who filled that role at the end of the season and in the playoffs last year.

Fowler, unlike Montembeault, doesn't have to go through waivers, so he could be sent back to Laval and given plenty of playing time. But with the Habs looking to win, it will be hard to bench Fowler if he's the better of the two goalies.

Keep in mind that there's always the possibility of trading Montembeault, which could become easier if he has a strong camp and if a team sees one of its goalies get injured in the coming weeks. That's the kind of situation that can arise during training camp.

But at the same time, if they trade Monty, the Habs would be pretty thin in goal. They'd quickly be down to Kaapo Kahkönen, you know.


In Brief

– Martin St-Louis told the media he was happy to have Derek Lalonde on board as an assistant coach. Hughes also mentioned that he thought Lalonde was a good fit with his current coaching staff.

– Hehe.

– Nice!

– A new captain for the Islanders.

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