Unexpected surprise for Samuel Montembeault: the Canadiens should be happy

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Aaron
July 29, 2024 (4:46 PM)

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As you know, the Montreal Canadiens ended the 2023-24 season with Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau in goal.

This means there will no longer be a three-goalie rotation like last year, with Jake Allen in the mix.

That said, we all agree that Montembeault should be the organization's number one goalie throughout the season, even though some experts still doubt that the Quebec goaltender is a true NHL-caliber number one.

But it seems we might have an answer to this question via The Hockey News.

As reported by Danslescoulisses, the experts there have done several rankings to determine which NHL teams have a true number one center, a true number one defenseman, and a true number one goaltender... You get the idea.

Samuel Montembeault is "maybe" a number one goaltender, just like Charlie Lindgren, according to them

When it came time to analyze the Canadiens regarding goaltenders, THN concluded that Samuel Montembeault is among the teams with "maybe" a number one goaltender, as he is starting to be recognized across the NHL.

Notably, there are seven other goalies in this category.

Here they are:

Petr Mrazek (Blackhawks)
Stuart Skinner (Oilers)
Darcy Kuemper (Kings)
Tristan Jarry (Penguins)
Joey Daccord (Kraken)
Connor Ingram (Utah)
Charlie Lindgren (Capitals)

If we look at the category just below, which is "teams that have two goaltenders who should compete for the number one role," we find five teams:

Buffalo Sabres � Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen or Devon Levi
Carolina Hurricanes � Frederik Andersen or Pyotr Kochetkov
New York Islanders � Ilya Sorokin or Semyon Varlamov
Philadelphia Flyers � Samuel Ersson or Ivan Fedotov
Toronto Maple Leafs � Joseph Woll or Anthony Stolarz

We can therefore come to a positive conclusion that Samuel Montembeault is now recognized as a number one goaltender in the NHL, and it will be interesting to see how many games Martin St-Louis trusts him with next season.

By the way, if you want to read the full article, click HERE.

Credit: DansLesCoulisses
Classement des gardiens de THN : le Canadien a « peut-être » un gardien numéro un