Connect with us

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens Possibly Interested in Vancouver Canucks Goaltender

Published

on

Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens have been busy looking at different ways to improve their team, and they may be zeroing in on a Vancouver Canucks goalie to strengthen their goaltending depth.

On a recent Donnie and Dhali segment, Rick Dhaliwal mentioned that the Montreal Canadiens had shown interest in Canucks goaltending prospect Micheal Dipietro.

“Mikey Dipietro, it’s time for a change,” said Dhaliwal on Dipietro’s time likely being up in Vancouver. “He’s falling behind Silovs. Someone told me this morning that the Canadiens may have interest. I think the Canuck are going to get him moved by next week’s deadline.”

Stuck in the backlog behind Canucks’ No.1 goaltender, Thatcher Demko, Michael Dipietro is looking for a fresh start and the Montreal Canadiens appear willing to give him one in their organization. Dipietro, similarly to the Canadiens’ Cayden Primeau, hasn’t had the luxury of much playing time over the last two seasons due to the impacts of Covid-19 and the inception of the Taxi Squads.

The 23-year-old goaltender was a standout junior player in the OHL playing for the Windsor Spitfires, putting up some impressive numbers from the start of his OHL career all the way until he turned pro in 2019. The link to the Montreal Canadiens is a curious one, as current Canadiens assistant coach Trevor Letowski was his associate coach from 2015 to 2017, and then head coach from 2017 to 2019. Letowski and the rest of the Montreal Canadiens staff could feel like DiPietro would be a worthwhile reclamation project that they would be able to secure and give some considerable minutes at the pro-level, despite already having Primeau in the wings.

With the 2022 NHL Draft not overflowing with top goaltending prospects, it wouldn’t be outlandish to see the Canadiens sacrifice a 5th or 6th rounder to acquire the rights to the restricted free agent. The Canucks already have Martin Spencer and Artus Silovs under contract for next season to play for their farm team in Abbotsford, meaning there would be little place for Dipietro to continue to improve while under the Canucks banner. It could be a win-win scenario for both clubs, while offering the Canadiens an extra option in net, should teams continue calling on Primeau.