The more Samuel Montembeault adds up the good performances, the more his value increases. The 26-year-old, who is pocketing a salary of $1 million through the end of next season, could prove to be an interesting catch for a general manager looking for depth in the position. Only Kent Hughes doesn’t see it that way.
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“Sam isn’t going anywhere,” assured the Canadian’s general manager. We want to keep it.”
Hughes has never been so astute in his nearly 45-minute tally. Except maybe when the time came to confirm that signing Cole Caufield for several seasons was his priority.
So that says a lot about the organization’s satisfaction with the former Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.
“He’s going through a big phase. He’s still young for an NHL goaltender. It’s difficult to rely on this small segment to predict its future, but we see it has some potential,” said Hughes.
Free translation: And if the successes he is currently experiencing were the harbinger of a bright future, the Canadian would bite his fingers for having traded him, while the successor in this position is rather thin.
The stuff of number one?
At the start of the season, the athlete from Bécancour had shown encouraging signs of progress compared to last year. However, since Jake Allen has been on the sidelines (the Canadian announced he will be out for at least another week), Montembeault has reached another level.
On Tuesday night he played his fifth straight game against the Winnipeg Jets. A fifth work evening in nine days. A daunting task even for a goalkeeper used to the rhythm of a number one.
During that streak he held a record of three wins and two losses. But what’s notable is his 0.946 percent save rate in those games, along with 2.02 goals against average. Games in which his teammates struggled defensively, with the exception of Tuesday.
We’ll see what happens to Allen as he returns from injury and nears the March 3 trading deadline. But can Montembeault aim for the title of number one goalkeeper?
Martin St-Louis played it safe on Tuesday morning at the end of his team’s morning practice session, insisting he didn’t have enough information to make a decision.
“I didn’t know him very well before I came here. But last year he solidified his position as an NHL goaltender. This year he went one step further. He gave us very good matches. He was very consistent,” he emphasized.
Binnington, Crawford, Dubnyk
Montembeault wouldn’t be the first goaltender in recent NHL history to come out of his shell in his mid-20s.
Jordan Binnington just turned 26 when he played his first full season with the Blues, leading them to the Stanley Cup.
Corey Crawford was the same age as Binnington when he got a regular job with the Blackhawks.
Devan Dubnyk slipped into the Wild at 28 after rolling his belly with the Oilers, the Predators, a brief stint in the organization of the Canadians and the Coyotes.
So nothing is decided for Montembeault yet