Pat Hickey: Can Prime be a reliable goaltender for the Canadiens?

It will be interesting to see how Montreal's goaltending situation plays out next season.

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Pat Hickey • Special to the Montreal Gazette

Posted on April 12, 2024 • 3 minutes of reading

Canadiens goalie Kaiden Prayau has an 8-9-2 record this season with a 2.91 goals-against average and a 910 save percentage. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette

Kayden Prayau has a slim chance of becoming the next Carey Price, but Canadians will be happy if he turns out to be the next Charlie Lindgren.

Eight years ago, Lindgren was American Caden Prime, who left college early to sign with the Canadiens. For the next five seasons, he bounced back and forth between the NHL and AHL. He trailed Price, Al Montoya, Antti Niemi and Keith Kinkaid. He won his first three NHL starts, but when he left to sign as a free agent with St. Louis in 2021, he appeared in just 24 NHL games with a 10-12-2 record.

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Lindgren was behind Jordan Binnington and Wil Husso in St. Louis, but he made the most of his few opportunities. He posted a 5-0-0 record with a 1.22 goals-against average and a .958 save percentage. That was enough for the Capitals to offer him a three-year deal, and at age 30, he unseated Darcy Kuemper for the No. 1 job in Washington.

While the Canadiens have been hurt by goaltenders like Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy and Price, who jumped into a starting role without a lengthy apprenticeship, most goaltenders need time to develop. Sam Montembo is having a career season at age 27, while Primeau is 24. This year, their development was a bit more difficult because the Canadiens were afraid to give up Primeau because they thought another team would claim him. The result was a three-goalie rotation with Montembo, Primeau and Jake Allen sharing the work.

Neither of the goalkeepers found it difficult to find a rhythm, and Primea, who was given the least amount of work, had a hard time. Montembo and Primeau both played well after Allen was traded to New Jersey at the deadline.

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Primeau has an 8-9-2 record with a 2.91 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage this season, but his numbers have improved since Allen left. He is 3-3-0 with a 2.65 GAA and a .925 save percentage.

It will be interesting to see how the goalkeeper situation plays out next season. Primeau ends the season with better numbers, but Montembo has played 40 games for the team this season. He's been 3-4-3 since the Allen trade, but there have been nights where he's been better.

While the Canadiens backed him with nine goals as Montreal played spoiler against playoff hopefuls Philadelphia, he could use some of those goals against the surging New York Islanders on Thursday. Montembo kept the Canadiens in the game until Kyle Palmieri scored in overtime to secure a 3-2 win. The Islanders beat the Canadiens 31-14.

It was the sixth in a row for Patrick Roy's Islanders, who solidified third place in the Metropolitan Division with 89 points, three more than Pittsburgh.

Lane Hutson drops in: The Canadiens can sign U.S. varsity defenseman Lane Hutson after second-seeded Boston University defeated No. 3 Denver University 2-1 in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships in St. Paul, Minn., on Thursday night. Hutson did not respond to a question about whether he will leave BU after two seasons, but he is expected to sign an entry-level contract and make his NHL debut next week in one of the Canadiens' final two games against Detroit.

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Canadiens prospect Luke Tuch opened the scoring for BU in the first period, but Mirabel native Tristan Lemire tied the game in the second and Tristan Brose scored the winning goal at 11:09 of overtime.

Denver will face top-ranked Boston College in Saturday's final (6 p.m., TSN). Jacob Fowler, after years of maybe being part of the goaltending conversation in Montreal, was the difference as BC shut out Michigan 4-0. The freshman goalkeeper had to be at the top of his game as the Wolverines outshot BC 32-18. It was Fowler's 14th straight win and an NCAA-record 32nd of the season.

Fowler, who was drafted in the third round by Montreal last season, is one of three finalists for the Mike Richter Award, given to the top goaltender in USA college hockey. Primeau won the award in 2019 while playing at Northeastern University in Boston.

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