The Montreal Canadiens and G Samuel Montembeault have agreed to a two-year, one-way contract extension that will pay $1M per season.
Last season, Montembeault appeared in 38 games and finished with an 8-18-16 record with a 3.77 GAA and a .891SV%.
For a team that was desperate in the goalie department last season, re-signing Montembeault makes sense. There are still questions about how healthy Carey Price will enter this season, so getting as much goalie depth is never a bad idea.
Paying Montembeault $1M can be a bit expensive, especially since he is going to be the third goalie listed on the depth charts at the end of the day but having the assurance that you have an NHL calibre goalie that will be ready to play is a huge plus.
Currently, the goalies for the Canadiens entering next season are Carey Price, Jake Allen, and Sam Montembeault. It’s not a star-studded tandem, but with the Habs rebuilding, this should give fans some comfort heading into next season. There aren’t many questions about who the game-day starter will be. Of course, everyone is anxious to see Price back in action after what he went through last season.
If anything goes wrong, the Canadiens will return with last year’s goalie tandem, Jake Allen and Sam Montembeault. If this were to be the case, Cayden Primeau would be starting most of the games in the AHL, which would be the correct move for his development. Last season, he was left to hang out to dry on most nights, and he is still a raw goaltender.
There’ll have to be more moves to be made for the Habs to re-sign Cayden Primeau and newly acquired centre Kirby Dach. The Habs have $248,334 in cap space right now, so the offseason should be pretty interesting from here on out.
