tomh009

He looks good, but it's only two games. He's also 34 -- three years older than Allen -- so I don't know how much the Habs would be willing to invest in him going forward. But at the moment I'm feeling reasonably good about the Montembeault/Hammond duo for this season.

Schueneman, Dauphin and Pezzeta are three Laval call-ups that have really exceeded expectations.

Really nice work by Dauphin to set him up on those.

That's indeed a question for Gorton and Hughes, what they expect his future value to be.

Right. So, if they decide that he's a keeper, they should give him four or maybe even five years. He is still young, has been consistent and not injury-prone so term is not so risky as long as the cap hit is acceptable.

What would be a more realistic contract?

I don't think there is any question that Lehkonen can contribute even after the rebuild. He's only 26, he's outstanding defensively, and he can even score sometimes when teamed up with better linemates (as we saw with Toffoli and Suzuki). And he gives it 100% every night. Kind of like Danault in many ways ... The questions are really based on whether his contract will fit -- only Gorton and Hughes know -- and whether another team might be willing to pay more than he is worth to the Habs.

First goal by Ylonen in some time, good for him.

2-1 Laval with a goal from Smith-Pelly and a short-handed marker from Martel. Primeau 13 saves on 14 shots through two periods.

If ever. I think the most likely scenario is still that Price stays a Hab until retirement, whether playing or on LTIR.

Ouch! (Pun intended)

You could gift them somebody from Laval, though, to keep the contracts in balance. Would the Flyers trade Konecny?

You may be hitting the nail on the head: Timmins may have been risk-averse and tended picked players he was confident would make the team rather than swinging for the fences. That would certainly explain the outcomes. (The GM will likely have meddled with some of Timmins' first-round picks but I expect later rounds will have almost all been approved by Timmins.)

Yeah, I have no answers for prior seasons. And maybe this season is just a fluke. But looking at this season alone: 2021-2022, 5-on-5: Allen (1064 TOI) 2.59 GAA, 0.918 save %, 0.789 HD save %, 0.961 MD save %, 0.960 LD save % Montembeault (965 TOI) 2.67 GAA, 0.922 save %, 0.822 HD save %, 0.932 MD save %, 0.974 LD save % Primeau (392 TOI) 4.89 GAA, 0.860 save %, 0.714 HD save %, 0.831 MD save %, 0.988 LD save % Montembeault has done as well against high-danger shots as Allen, but allowed roughly twice as many goals from medium-danger shots (these could probably be called "clunkers", as you say). For the sake of comparison ... 2020-2021, 5-on-5: Allen (1363 TOI) 2.42 GAA, 0.912 save %, 0.804 HD save %, 0.904 MD save %, 0.978 LD save % Price (1203 TOI) 1.84 GAA, 0.925 save %, 0.841 HD save %, 0.873 MD save %, 0.990 LD save % Note that Price's average on MD shots (17 goals allowed on 134 MD shots) was even lower. However, he made up for that with a stunning 0.990 on LD shots (2 goals on 207 shots).

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I wouldn't say "obviously" as none of us are privy to the discussions inside the Habs' front office. Bobrov didn't replace Lapointe but rather complements him, so I expect that Gorton and Hughes also value Lapointe's advice.

That would be $2.5M more than Muzzin, so a problem for the Leafs even if Muzzin goes LTIR. They could get him as a rental and let him walk, though.

Next year, if we lose Petry, Chiarot, Gallagher, Hoffman and Allen (or some similar set), and do not rush the kids to the NHL, we will probably be in the bottom 10. And that's without considering the risk to Price and Edmundson.

Indeed. Assuming that just dropping in Gorton, Hughes and St Louis is magically going to turn around this team in two years is a pipe dream. Yes, the team looks good right now and has won four in a row. But it really is a false spring. We're not there yet.

I don't know his play in the past years at all, I don't recall ever seeing him play at all until the Habs picked him up. But my opinion of his play earlier in the season is not quite as harsh as Brian's. I've watched most of the games this year (and nearly all the goals when I couldn't watch the games) and often our D was playing so badly that the goalies really had no chance on many of the goals.

Montembeault now over .900, and the first career shutout. Good for the kid. I think we're due to lose to the Sens on Saturday, we need to regain our rightly position at the head of the draft lottery.

Well, given the choice of top line in Laval or playing 4th line for Ducharme, Laval would have still been a better choice ...

The Olympics are a really, really small sample size. He has 1g+3a in 21 Liiga games this season (6g+12a in 11 U20 games) so the Olympics are a bit of an aberration at the moment. By comparison, Kemell (also considered a top pick) has 12g+6a in 27 Liiga games. And he's a month younger than Slafkovsky.

Suzuki and Caufield are monopolizing the scoring tonight!

You can't pin all those losses on Montembeault (or Primeau) alone, though. Our defence has been atrocious at (many) times, giving the puck away or not covering open forwards. Neither kid is a CAREY PRICE who will cover up for all the defensive faux pas, but neither should they be expected to be.