Samuel Montembeault opened Canadiens camp on the outside looking in, and Frank Seravalli says he'll be the first player traded anywhere this season.
Seravalli made the call on The Jason Gregor Show. His money is on the goaltender to be the first man moved in the league this year.
The line that stung came next. A couple of years ago he was the third goalie on Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Today he's third in Montreal.
He met the media Saturday and kept it short. He doesn't want to look too far ahead, and he says he has a bone to pick after last year.
The numbers explain the drop. He played 25 games last season and finished with a .873 save percentage.
Not a single shutout in that run. The contract carries a $3,150,000 cap hit, which is modest enough to make him easy to move.
Martin St-Louis also went to rookie Jacob Fowler for a relief appearance in the postseason instead of him. Coaches don't make that choice by accident.
Montreal's Samuel Montembeault situation reaches a breaking point
Hughes said this week that Montreal doesn't plan to keep three once the schedule starts, even if camp opens that way.
The camp groups tell the rest of it. Jakub Dobes and Fowler sit in the tier Montreal treats as its top options. The veteran doesn't.
Dobes played 43 games last season and posted a .901 save percentage. That's the starter now, and nobody inside the building is arguing.
He did it on a $965,000 cap hit. Value like that ends roster debates before they begin.
Fowler went .908 across 17 games at 21 years old. Better than what the veteran managed, and cheaper by a wide margin.
Here's the wrinkle that decides everything. Fowler can be sent to Laval without clearing waivers. Montembeault can't.
The Canadiens finished 48-24-10 for 106 points last season. That's not a club with room to run experiments in October.
They scored 283 goals and allowed 256. Built to win now, with exactly one unsettled position in the room.
Kaiden Guhle is also expected out until at least October 23 with a groin issue, so the blue line has its own hole to cover.
So who blinks first? Three goalies on one roster works like three people under one umbrella. Somebody ends up soaked.
Two weeks until the season starts, by his own count. Seravalli just put a clock on it, and Hughes has to decide whether he beats it.
Source : Insider Predicts Canadiens Veteran Will Be First Player Traded
Should Kent Hughes trade Samuel Montembeault before opening night?
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