Michaud Looking for fresh start...

[puck7x]

With Bulldogs...

http://www.rds.ca/hockey/chroniques/HOCKEY...AN3F26F8FC.html

He has to beat out Fichaud for the job first though.

[Habs77]

Translation of a part of the article:

«The important thing for Olivier it to get a lot of starts. He has to play between 40 & 60 games. To get to the big leagues, it'll take him 2 years» says goalie coach Roland Melançon.

There will be some competition in Hamilton, now that the Canadiens have signed goalie Jean-François Damphousse.  

«Damphousse will play in Hamilton. Beyond that, it'll depend on Michaud & Fichaud», added Melançon.

«We are alone in Hamilton this year. We control the goalie situation now. That'll be a better situation than last year», says Timmins.  

So Damphousse comes in assured of a spot in Hamilton... not the other two.

If Michaud falters I could see him being demoted to the ECHL so he can get his 40-60 starts that Melançon wants him to have.

As for Fichaud, if Michaud does well... there's not much room for him. Although the situation was similar for him last year when they had Garon/Conklin/Fichaud for a while.

When one of Theo/Garon is eventually dealt I could see Fichaud being backup in Mtl and only getting a handful of starts.

I like how they've set up a competitive environment between Michaud & Damphousse... very healthy.

[Edited on 31-7-03 by Habs77]

[TheAussiePosse]

If you had to choose between Damphousse and Michaud to be our goalie of the future (imagine no Garon or Theodore, and our goalies are Belfour and Kidd, or some duo of old goalies), who would you choose?

I think I'd take Damphousse, even though I haven't really seen him in action.

I hope he makes NJ kick themselves. Ahonen is good, but IMO Damphousse can/will be better.