By JD Lagrange – The way Marc Bergevin started, and Kent Hughes is continuing with the Draft and development, the Canadiens don’t need a saviour in net. They don’t need another Carey Price or Patrick Roy. What they do need however, is a goaltender who is a legitimate starter, a true number one or a 1-A as they say, one who can play at least 55 games a year and be effective.
Looking at the young defensemen coming up, looking at the style of play that Martin St-Louis preaches, this team is not without reminding me of the 90’s Detroit Red Wings. If you recall back then, Chris Osgood didn’t need to steal games for Mike Babcock and his team. He needed to stop the first shot and avoid giving up bad goals.
What the Canadiens simply cannot afford to do is to become the new Toronto Maple Leafs and have a contending team while being unable to find suitable goaltending. That’s why they must act soon and address the issue.
Recent goalie trades
The good news is that historically, goaltenders rarely fetched as much as skaters in trades. I have decided to dress a list of some of the goaltenders who have been traded in the past couple of years. Notice the return…
| MARCH 2, 2023 |  |  |
| – Jonathan Quick (G) | – Michael Hutchinson (G) – 7th rd pick | |
 | | |
| – Jakub Voracek – 6th rd pick | – Jon Gillies (G) | |
 |  | |
| – Max Domi – Dylan Wells (G) | – Anton Khudobin (G) – 2nd rd pick | |
| MARCH 1, 2023 | |  |
| – Jonathan Quick (G) – 1st rd pick – 3rd rd pick | – Vladislav Gavrikov – Joonas Korpisalo (G) | |
|  | |
| – Erik Portillo (G) | – 3rd rd pick | |
| AUGUST 29, 2022 | |  |
| – Adin Hill (G) | – 4th rd pick | |
| JULY 13, 2022 |  | |
| – Brent Burns – Lane Pederson | – Steven Lorentz – Eetu Makiniemi (G) – 3rd rd pick | |
 |  | |
| – Cam Talbot (G) | – Filip Gustavsson (G) | |
| JULY 11, 2022 |  | |
| – Matt Murray (G) – 3rd rd pick – 7th rd pick | – Future considerations | |
| JULY 8, 2022 |  |  |
| – Ville Husso (G) | – 3rd rd pick | |
| JULY 7, 2022 |  |  |
| – Alexandar Georgiev (G) | – 3rd rd pick – 5th rd pick – 3rd rd pick | |
| | |
| – Petr Mrazek – 1st rd pick | – 2nd rd pick | |
| MARCH 21, 2022 | | |
| – Kaapo Kahkonen (G) – 5th rd pick | – Jacob Middleton | |
| MARCH 20, 2022 | | |
| – Scott Wedgewood (G) | – 4th rd pick |
In more details
Now let’s focus on a few goaltenders that are more along what the Canadiens would be looking for when it comes to not only skills and potential, but also in age. Those are the stats they were displaying PRIOR to the trade, so we see what GMs saw in those goaltenders at the time of pulling the trigger.
| NAME | *AGE | SEASON | TEAM | GP | GAA | Sv% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaapo Kahkonen | 25 | 2019-20 | Minnesota Wild | 5 | 2.93 | .905 |
| 2020-21 | Minnesota Wild | 24 | 2.88 | .902 | ||
| 2021-22 | Minnesota Wild | 25 | 2.87 | .910 | ||
| San Jose Sharks | 11 | 2.86 | .916 | |||
| Alexandar Georgiev | 26 | 2017-18 | NY Rangers | 10 | 3.15 | .918 |
| 2018-19 | NY Rangers | 33 | 2.91 | .914 | ||
| 2019-20 | NY Rangers | 34 | 3.04 | .910 | ||
| 2020-21 | NY Rangers | 19 | 2.71 | .905 | ||
| 2021-22 | NY Rangers | 33 | 2.92 | .898 | ||
| Ville Husso | 26 | 2020-21 | St. Louis Blues | 17 | 3.21 | .893 |
| 2021-22 | St. Louis Blues | 40 | 2.56 | .919 | ||
| Eetu Makiniemi | 23 | 2020-21 | Ilves (Liiga) | 34 | 2.59 | .907 |
| 2021-22 | Chicago Wolves | 14 | 2.06 | .922 | ||
| Adin Hill | 26 | 2019-20 | Arizona Coyotes | 13 | 2.62 | .918 |
| 2020-21 | Arizona Coyotes | 19 | 2.74 | .913 | ||
| 2021-22 | San Jose Sharks | 25 | 2.66 | .906 | ||
| Erik Portillo | 21 | 2020-21 | Univ. of Michigan | 7 | 1.67 | .935 |
| 2021-22 | Univ. of Michigan | 42 | 2.14 | .926 |
As a measure of comparison, I want to include Carter Hart, who has been in trade rumours ever since Daniel Briere took over as GM of the Philadelphia Flyers. We’ll get back to him later, but as those stats are fresh in mind…
| AGE | SEASON | TEAM | GP | GAA | Sv% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carter Hart | 24 | 2022-23 | Philadelphia Flyers | 55 | 2.94 | .907 |
| Career | Philadelphia Flyers | 201 | 2.96 | .906 |
Also, let’s not forget that the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to sign Ilya Samsonov because he wasn’t qualified by the Washington Capitals. Samsonov was a first round pick in 2015 and was only 25 years old when the Caps gave up on him. In 89 games with the Capitals, he was 52-22-8 with a 2.81 goals against average and a .902 saves percentage. The Leafs got him… for free.
As you can see, the price of acquiring goaltenders is not comparable to the price paid to acquire good forwards or defensemen. So it is my strong believe that the potential acquisition of Pierre-Luc Dubois would not affect in any way Kent Hughes’ ability to address the team’s need between the pipes.
Now if you’re curious about what it could cost the Canadiens to get Dubois, I have recently provided readers with comparatives both in trade value and in contracts.
Canadiens’ options
I have also recently provided a list of five potential trade targets for Kent Hughes to address the goaltending position. They are:
Even for Hart, the Canadiens don’t need the Panthers’ first round pick to acquire him. They can save that pick to get Dubois, if they wish to do so, which seems to be the case. But remember this when it comes to acquiring players… Giving assets in a trade is not a bad thing.
Not only have the Habs drafted 49 prospects since the reset of 2018, but they still have 28 other picks from now until 2025. The prospect pool is full in both quality and quantity, with several of them either on the team or turning professional.
Fans seldom think of that, but there is such thing as prospects saturation. Teams cannot have more than 50 players under contract at one time. As you can clearly see, not only do the Canadiens have plenty of assets, but they are reaching the saturation point.
For what it’s worth, I believe that Montreal will do two things this off-season to address their goaltending issues.
- They will trade for an improvement over what they currently have. What they’ll do with Jake Allen or Samuel Montembeault remains to be seen. Remember that Cayden Primeau will now have to go through waivers to be sent down.
- They will use a second or third round pick to select a goalie, one with more upside than what they currently have in the system.
Playoffs Bound?
In his last press conference, Kent Hughes mentioned that the expectations on the players will be changing next season. He says that they will not be entering the season thinking that they will be out of the playoffs. If he thinks that, he has to have a plan in mind to help these guys move forward. I can see them battling for a playoffs spot if at least a couple of of the following events happen:
- Get lucky at the lottery and select someone who can have an impact immediately…
- If the Canadiens can get an improvement in net…
- Get Dubois at a reasonable price…
- The potential trade of Joel Edmundson with a decent return…
- The possibility of finding a right-handed defenseman to play ahead of David Savard and Johnathan Kovacevic…
- Be healthy enough not to be the team with the most man-games lost to injuries for a third year in a row…
That’s a lot of ifs, isn’t it? But I think that all are quite realistic. The most difficult might be the right-handed defenseman and getting lucky at the Draft. Either way, if you’re thinking of seeing the Canadiens tanking for another year, be prepared to be very disappointed. The self-proclaimed Tank Nation is dead or at the very least, it will count fewer members.
